mmpOllii  llliiilii  pilliili' 


1 

»m 

I 

Our  Neighbors: 
The  Chinese 


By  Joseph  King  Goodrich 

A  handy-volume  series,  treating  in  an  interesting, 
informing  way  the  history  and  characteris- 
tics of  "  Our  Neighbors  "  of  other  lands 

Ready:  THE  JAPANESE 

THE  CHINESE  THE  FILIPINOS 

THE  DANES 

OTHER   VOLUMES    IN    PREPARATION 

Each,  16mo,  illustrated,  $1.25  net 


A 


(TOR  In  Female  Cosiume 


Our  Neighbors: 

The  Chinese 


BY 

JOSEPH  KING  GOODRICH 

Sometime  Professor  in  the  Imperial  College,  Kyoto 


WITH   16   ILLUSTRATIONS  FROM  PHOTOGRAPHS 


CHICAGO 

BROWT^E  &  HOWELL  COMPANY 

191S 


COPYRIGHT,     1913 
BY     THE     PLIMPTON     PRESS 


Copyright  in  England 
All  rights  reserved 


PLliLISHED,    OCTOBER,    1913 


THB-PLIMPTON-PRESS 
NORWOOD-MASS'U-S-A 


THE  UBTIARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SANTA  BARBARA     _ — 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTEB  PAOK 

I.     Who  are  the  Chinese  ? 1 

II.     The  Republic  op  China 16 

III.  Myths     about     Creation     and     other 

Things 30 

IV.  Chinese  Literature  and  Folk-lore  .       .  45 
V.      Education:   Former  and  Modern       .       .  59 

VI.     Home  and  Family  Life 72 

VII.      Occupations 87 

VIII.     Pleasures  of  Life 101 

IX.     Social  and  Official  Classes        .       .       .  114 

X.      Court  Life:   Ancient  and  Modern     .       .  127 

XL      The  People  of  the  Eighteen  Provinces  140 

Xll.      The  Mongols  and  the  Manchus         .       .  154 

XIII.  The  Tibetans  and  their  Country      .       .  167 

XIV.  The  Mohametans 180 

XV.      How  THE  Chinese  Came  to  be  Known  to 

the  Rest  of  the  World     ....  194 

XVI.      A  Chinese  Boy's  Life 207 

XVII.      A  Chinese  Girl's  Life 220 

XVni.      Tii.\vELiNG  IN  China 231 

XIX.      How  the  Chinese  Live 243 

XX.     The  World  and  the  New  Republic  .       .  254 

Bibliography 203 

Index 271 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Actor  in  Female  Costume Froniitpiece 

Pagoda  near  Canton facing  page  40 

Main  Street,  Mukden 90 

A  Fruit  and  Vegetable  Market 96 

Women  with  Small  Feet 118 

A  Public  Garden,  Mukden,  Manchuria 124 

Manchu  Mausoleum:  Interior  of  Grounds    .      ...  138 

Mausoleum  of  a  Manchu  Ruler 156 

Manchu  Mother  and  Children 158 

Manchu  Woman  in  Full  Dress 160 

Manchu  Geisha 164 

Manchu    Married   Woman:    The   Headdress   Indicates 

the  Fact 166 

Street  Scene.  Mukden:  Temple  Wall 216 

Railway  Station,  Mukden:  Water  Carts       ....  234 

Night-soil  Gatherers 246 

An  Official  Residence 248 


Our  Neighbors: 
The     Chine  se 

CHAPTER  I 

WHO  ABE  THE  CHINESE? 

IT  is  easier  to  ask  this  question  than  it  is 
to  answer  it.  Of  course,  if  we  mean 
nothing  more  than  the  people  of  the  pres- 
ent Kepublic  of  China  it  is  not  dififtcult  to 
give  some  sort  of  a  reply  which  will  be  satis- 
factory to  most  inquirers.  It  is  true  even 
when  we  think  of  the  Chinese  Eepublic  in 
its  widest  range  and  include  not  only  the 
actual  Chinese  themselves,  but  all  the  other 
peoples  who  are  officially  citizens  of  the  Re- 
public. Some  of  those  citizens  who  do  not 
answer  to  the  name  Chinese,  have  always 
given  more  or  less  trouble,  and  at  the 
present  moment,  citizens  of  Mongolia  and 
of  the  extreme  northwestern  and  western 
provinces  of  Cliina,  are  showing  anything 
but  a  clieerful  willingness  to  respect  the  new 
government  and  to  become  peaceful  citizens 
of   the   youngest    republic,   but    tlie    oldest 

government   in  the   wliole   world.     To   this 
1 


2       OUE   NEIGHBOES:     THE   CHINESE 

subject  we  shall  return  in  a  subsequent 
chapter. 

There  are  two  ways  by  which  answers  of 
a  kind  may  be  given  to  the  question,  "  Who 
are  the  Chinese?"  One  refers  to  the  posi- 
tion amongst  the  rest  of  mankind  that  near- 
ly all  the  citizens  of  China  are  given  by 
those  who  make  the  study  of  mankind  their 
proper  study.  Ethnologists  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  say  that  practically  all  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Chinese  Republic  belong  to  the 
yellow  race;  that  they  are  Mongoloids. 
That  is  true;  but  do  we  know  just  whence 
the  yellow-skinned  people  came  originally? 
No,  we  do  not. 

I  am  afraid  we  must  give  up  the  idea  that 
all  the  seventeen  hundred  million  inhabi- 
tants of  the  world  came  from  just  one 
original  Adam  and  Eve,  and  that  the 
tremendous  differences  which  are  to  be  noted 
in  anatomy,  skin,  hair,  and  many  other 
physical  details,  are  all  just  the  effect  of 
climate,  physical  and  climatic  surround- 
ings, conditions  of  life,  etc.  Even  the 
strictest  Christian  evolutionist  has  to  admit 
that  it  is  probable  the  development  of  the 
human  being  from  a  lower  type  of  animal 
life,  took  place  in  several  different  parts 
of  the  globe,  and  it  is  reasonable  specula- 
tion to  say  that  probably  this  evolution  of 
the   very    first    individuals    of   the    several 


WHO    ARE    THE    CHINESE?  3 

types  of  mankind,  took  place  at  times  which 
were  widely  separated,  if  we  measure  by 
years  or  even  by  centuries. 

Now  as  to  speculation,  it  is  interesting 
to  read  what  such  a  brilliant  ethnologist  as 
Count  Gobineau  says  of  the  evolution  of 
the  three  great  types  of  mankind.  He  con- 
sidered it  sufficient  to  limit  the  varieties  of 
mankind  to  that  number,  and  he  distin- 
guished them  as  the  white,  the  yellow,  and 
the  black.  Other  ethnologists  have  not 
been  satisfied  with  this  limitation  of  the 
numbers  of  primary  types,  and  have  felt  it 
to  be  necessary  to  add  the  red  and  the  brown. 
The  former  of  these  permits  us  to  put  the 
many  tribes  of  American  Indians  —  all  in 
the  North,  the  Central  and  the  South  Amer- 
icas —  into  a  separate  group  from  the  yel- 
low; the  latter  permits  us  to  separate  the 
peoples  of  southern  Asia  from  the  blacks 
of  Africa  and  some  of  the  Pacific  Islands. 

It  seems  more  satisfactory  to  divide  the 
peoples  of  the  earth  into  five  races  than  to 
limit  them  to  three;  because  it  is  difficult 
to  nmke  ourselves  believe  that  the  ancient 
civilization  of  Central  and  South  America 
was  that  of  a  people  who  were  precisely  the 
same  in  all  respects  as  the  yellow  races  of 
Asia.  So,  too,  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
put  some  of  the  brown  peoples  of  Rritisli 
India,  Southern  Asia,  and  the  East  Indian 


4     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

Islands,  in  the  same  class  as  the  true  Cau- 
casian, while  it  is  repulsive  to  think  of  them 
as  precisely  the  same  as  the  typical  African 
negro. 

Count  Grobineau  put  forward  the  theory 
that  the  yellow  race  was  originally  created 
in  America.  Of  course  he  did  not  pretend 
to  say  in  just  what  part  of  our  continent 
the  great  miracle  of  evolution  from  brute 
to  human  was  performed,  yet  he  seemed  to 
think  there  w^ere  some  advantages  for  the 
peoples  of  the  western  part  of  North  Amer- 
ica over  those  of  the  eastern ;  and  that  these 
advantages  were  shared  by  the  Peruvians 
and  some  other  peoples.  In  taking  this 
strange  position,  Gobineau  intimated  that 
the  yellow  race  has  a  tremendously  long 
record  in  point  of  time,  and  in  that  respect 
was  a  race  of  great  dignity.  Because,  if 
that  theory  is  correct,  the  migration  of  the 
yellow  people  to  Asia  must  have  been  at  a 
time  so  long  ago  as  to  have  made  no  marks 
which  at  present  survive  in  the  myths  and 
legends  of  the  Chinese  or  their  predecessors 
in  any  part  of  Asia. 

The  yellow  emigrants  are  supposed  to 
have  made  their  way  across  the  narrow 
Bering  Sea  into  Kamchatka;  then  by  the 
way  of  Siberia  until  they  had  skirted  the 
Khan  Oula  and  the  Altai  ^Mountains  which 
do  seem  to  separate  Siberia  from  Mongolia. 


WHO   ARE   THE   CHINESE?  5 

After  that  they  passed  down  through  Tur- 
kestan and  the  countries  west  of  the  moun- 
tains called  Tian  Shan  until  they  reached 
the  Transcaspian  District  of  the  Russian 
Empire  on  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Cas- 
pian Sea  and  the  northern  parts  of  Bokhara, 
Afghanistan,  Persia,  etc. 

It  is  probably  well,  although  purely 
speculative,  that  such  migration  should  be 
borne  in  mind,  because  it  does  tend  to  give 
a  clue  as  to  why  certain  of  those  Mongolians 
in  later  and  historic  times  were  found  in 
places  from  whence  they  came.  It  also  has 
some  tendency  towards  explaining  why  the 
theory  of  another  eminent  ethnologist  may 
be  correct. 

That  theory  is  now  to  be  discussed. 
Professor  Terrien  de  Lacouperie  was  a 
Frenchman  who  went  to  China  about  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  to  engage 
in  commerce.  He  studied  the  language  and 
eventually  turned  from  commerce  to  pursue 
ethnological  research,  and  when  he  returned 
to  Europe  he  became  professor  of  compara- 
tive philology  of  tlie  Southeast  Asiatic 
languages  in  University  College,  London. 

lie  advanced  the  theory  that  somewhere 
about  the  twenty-tliird  century  before  Christ 
a  large  body  of  people  began  a  migration 
eastward  from  the  country  south  of  the  Cas- 
pian Sea  and  made  their  way  through  the 


6     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

passes  of  the  Tian  Shan,  through  Eastern 
Turkestan  on  into  the  region  of  the  Gobi 
Desert,  and  continued  their  march  until 
they  had  reached  the  upper  waters  of  the 
Yellow  River,  or  Hoang-ho,  and  then  di- 
verged towards  the  south  into  the  country 
which  we  call  China. 

To  support  his  views,  Prof.  Terrien  de 
Lacouperie  points  to  what  he  considers  a 
connection  between  the  written  language  of 
the  Akkadians  and  that  of  the  Chinese. 
The  former  people  may  be  somewhat  loosely 
defined  as  the  Babylonians,  for  in  the  cunei- 
form inscriptions  the  phrase  "  the  land  of 
Sumer  and  Akkadia  "  appears  to  have  de- 
noted Babylonia  in  general.  It  is  true  that 
there  is  a  curious  similiarity  between  some 
of  the  Akkadian  words  and  those  of  China 
in  both  sound  and  sense :  that  is,  if  we  are 
perfectly  sure  about  our  reading  of  the  cune- 
iform characters. 

In  certain  other  matters  there  is  too 
a  resemblance  between  the  southwestern 
parts  of  Asia  and  the  extreme  eastern  por- 
tion thereof.  Some  of  these  likenesses  are 
detected  in  the  earliest  known  religious  be- 
lief of  the  Chinese  and  the  old  Babylonians ; 
as  well  as  in  social  matters  and  rudimen- 
tary science.  Susiana  was  the  same  as  the 
Shushan  of  the  Bible.  x4nother  familiar 
name  is  Elam,  and  from  the  time  of  Darius 


WHO   AEE   THE   CHINESE?  7 

I,  the  city  Susa,  the  capital,  was  the  chief 
residence  of  Achajmenian  kings.  It  was 
certainly  a  fruitful  and  well-watered  coun- 
try and  had  access  to  the  Persian  Gulf. 

There  were  twelve  feudal  chiefs  or  "  Pas- 
tor Princes  "  who  governed  under  the  su- 
preme authority  of  the  king.  Now,  it  is 
said  that  there  was  a  certain  ruler  over  a 
portion  of  what  was  much  later  the  Empire 
of  China.  This  ruler  is  known  as  Emperor 
Yao,  and  he  is  declared  to  have  reigned 
from  2085  to  2004  B.  C.  He  is  likewise 
said  to  have  appointed  twelve  "  Pastors  "  to 
superintend  the  affairs  of  his  dominion,  as 
if  in  imitation  of  the  "  Pastor  Princes  "  of 
Susiana, 

In  that  latter  country  the  people  in  an- 
cient times  worshiped  one  supreme  god 
and  honored  six  subordinate  deities.  In 
China,  during  the  time  of  Yao  and  for  years 
after  him,  the  people  worshiped  Shang-ti, 
the  one  great  ruler  of  heaven,  and  six 
"  Honored  Ones,"  although  it  is  impossible 
to  determine  precisely  who  or  what  those 
six  were.  When  Chinese  history  became 
reasonably  established  as  something  firm 
upon  which  to  base  speculation,  that  is, 
probably  with  the  beginning  of  the  Chou 
dynasty  (1122  to  225  B.  C),  certainly  some 
time  before  tliat  dynasty  was  overthrown, 
the   knowledge   which  the   learned   men   in 


8      OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

China  had  of  astronomy  and  medicine  was 
so  nearly  like  that  of  the  people  of  Mesa- 
potamia,  that  it  is  hardly  safe  to  say  there 
could  not  have  been  some  communication 
between  the  two  peoples  in  earlier  times. 

Another  curious  thing  is  that  the  Chinese 
a  very  long  time  ago  saw  the  probabilities 
in  the  way  of  development  which  would 
come  from  a  system  of  internal  waterways 
and  canals  to  link  together  the  great  or 
smaller  rivers.  The  similarity  between  this 
scheme  and  that  of  Susiana,  by  which  the 
people  of  the  latter  made  their  way  com- 
fortably to  the  Persian  Gulf,  is  very  strik- 
ing. 

So  far  as  the  physical  probabilities  of  the 
great  migration  which  has  been  mentioned 
are  concerned,  there  was  nothing  absolutely 
impossible  about  it.  Authenic  history  tells 
us  of  some  remarkable  trcls.  Consider,  for 
example,  the  migration  of  six  hundred 
thousand  Kalmuk  Tartars  from  Russian 
territory  to  the  Chinese  borders,  about 
Avhich  De  Quincey  tells  us,  and  the  moving 
of  a  body  of  people  whom  we  afterwards 
called  Chinese,  from  Babylonia  to  eavstern 
Central  Asia,  is  not  at  all  incomprehensible. 

Yet  there  is  always  the  doubt  which  nat- 
urally comes  when  we  think  of  such  a  peo- 
ple leaving  a  home  in  every  way  so  de- 
sirable to  face  the  apparent  difficulties  of 


WHO   ARE   THE   CHINESE?  9 

penetrating  the  bordering  mountains  and 
into  the  great  unknown  that  was  beyond 
those  stern  and  forbidding  hills.  Another 
view  which  seems  to  discredit  Prof.  Ter- 
rien  de  Lacouperie's  theory  is  that  within 
the  time  of  authentic  history,  there  have  not 
been  in  the  Caspian  Sea  region  any  con- 
siderable numbers  of  people  who  appear  to 
be  ethnically  allied  to  the  Chinese.  Of 
course  the  intervening  centuries,  many 
scores  of  them  perhaps,  may  have  obliter- 
ated all  such  resemblance  from  the  few  peo- 
ple of  the  same  type  whom  the  emigrants 
left  behind  them. 

But  if  we  know  nothing  as  to  who  the 
Chinese  are  ethnologically,  we  may  safely 
say  that  they  are  not  the  aboriginal  inhabi- 
tants of  the  country  which  we  call  China. 
They  themselves  have  no  such  name  for 
themselves  as  that.  They  have  a  number  of 
others,  liowever,  with  all  of  which  w^e  need 
not  here  burden  ourselves.  Chung-kwoh, 
"  the  central  or  middle  country  or  kingdom," 
is  the  commonest,  and  that  is  the  one  se- 
lected by  the  Republic.  From  this  comes 
naturally  "  men  of  Chung-kwoh." 

As  I  have  explained  in  another  place  (see 
"The  Coming  China")  this  Middle  King- 
dom did  not,  I  am  sure,  mean  that  the 
Chinese  assumed  their  country  to  be  the 
absolute  center  of  the  whole  world  and  all 


10       OUR   neighbors:     the    CHINESE 

the  rest  an  unfortunate  fringe  of  outside 
lands.  To  their  mind  the  word  "  middle  " 
conveyed  rather  the  idea  of  a  fortunate  land 
whose  people  were  satisfied  to  preserve  a 
conservative,  central  course  between  the  ex- 
treme of  warlike  aggression  on  the  one  hand, 
and  of  slothful  repose  on  the  other. 

To  be  sure  the  Chinese  did,  until  a  few 
years  ago,  call  other  peoples  "  Outside  Bar- 
barians." This  came  from  a  sense  of 
superiority  to  the  hordes  of  savages  who  sur- 
rounded them  on  all  sides  except  the  south. 
In  that  direction  there  were  people  whom 
the  Chinese  might  have  regarded  as  their 
equals,  had  it  not  been  that  the  Himalaya 
Mountains  made  an  almost  impassable  bar- 
rier so  that  there  was  for  ages  no  intercourse. 
As  far  as  including  the  peoples  of  Europe 
in  the  list  of  "  Outer  Barbarians,"  one  can 
hardly  wonder  at  the  Chinese  doing  so  after 
reading  of  the  way  the  first  of  those 
strangers  behaved,  when  intercourse  be- 
tween the  Chinese  and  Europeans  was  re- 
sumed in  the  fifteenth  century,  after  having 
been  interrupted  for  more  than  five  hundred 
years. 

The  Chinese  used  to  take  great  pride  in 
calling  themselves  "  Sons  of  Han,"  or  "  Men 
of  T'ang."  The  first  of  these  favorite  ti- 
tles came  from  the  fact  tliat  Liu  P'ang  as- 
cended the  throne  in  B.  C.  206,  taking  for 


WHO   ARE   THE    CHINESE?  11 

himself  the  title  Kao  Ti,  "  August  Emperor," 
and  gave  his  dynasty,  which  he  then  es- 
tablished, the  name  of  Han,  from  the  small 
state  in  the  greater  district  of  Shensi  over 
which  he  had  ruled,  and  the  river  of  the 
same  name  near  which  he  was  born.  As  the 
Han  may  properly  be  considered  the  first 
national  dynasty,  it  is  natural  that  the  peo- 
ple should  have  taken  pride  in  calling  them- 
selves "  Sons  of  Han."  The  people  of  the 
great  southern  province,  Kwan-tung  —  we 
call  it  Canton  —  were  an  exception,  for  they 
always  refused  to  speak  of  themselves  in 
that  way. 

Eight  centuries  later  another  famous 
dynasty  ruled  over  China.  It  was  the 
T'ang  and  it  lasted  for  two  hundred  and 
eighty-nine  years,  from  G18  to  907  A.  D..  Its 
first  emperors  were  statesmen  and  generals 
of  marked  ability  and  the  Chinese  opinion 
of  that  group  of  sovereigns  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  one  of  the  names  they  sometimes 
call  themselves  by  was  "  The  men  of  T'ang." 
I  do  not  know  that  our  Chinese  neighbors 
will  discard  those  patriotic  and  honorable 
names,  now  that  they  have  so  effectually 
put  away  all  tilings  of  the  past ;  yet  I  rather 
hope  they  will  not. 

Giving  up  as  an  unsatisfactory  and  un- 
necessary task,  the  effort  to  establish  the 
primary  origin  of  the  Chinese,  we  seem  to 


12     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

be  safe  in  saying  that  before  tbey  settled 
down  into  something  like  permanent  occu- 
pation of  the  modern  province  Shensi,  they 
were  a  nomadic  people.  I  think  it  is  not 
at  all  unreasonable  to  point  to  the  roofs  of 
Chinese  houses  as  an  indication,  if  not  a 
proof,  that  they  borrowed  the  form  which 
their  tents  took.  If  a  large  square  tent  is 
supported  by  poles  at  the  four  corners,  the 
material  will  droop  from  the  poles  to  the 
center  of  each  side  and  until  at  the  middle 
of  the  side  it  begins  to  rise  again  towards 
the  next  post.  That  sharp  upward  turn  at 
the  corners  and  the  sag  along  the  sides  is 
called  a  "  catenary  curve,"  and  it  is  an  un- 
mistakable feature  of  all  Chinese  permanent 
structures.  ^  The  similarity  between  the 
eaves  of  a  Chinese  building  and  the  sag  of 
a  tent,  can  hardly  be  accounted  for  in  any 
other  way. 

Another  indication  of  the  nomadic  life 
of  the  Chinese  in  absolutely  prehistoric 
times,  is  the  fact  that  among  the  most  primi- 
tive ideographs  of  their  written  language, 
there  are  some  which  fully  warrant  the  as- 
sumption that  they  had  many  sheep  and 
cattle.  Later  ideographs,  chronologically, 
indicate  that  the  Chinese  were  agricultur- 
ists. Inasmuch  as  flocks  of  sheep  and  herds 
of  cattle  have  been  almost  unknown  in 
China  proper  for  centuries,  the  story  told 


WHO  ARE   THE   CHINESE?  13 

by  the  earliest  ideographs  and  the  evolution 
of  the  agricultural  ones,  is  more  than  inter- 
esting. 

An  ideograph,  it  may  be  explained,  is  a 
written  symbol,  usually  derived  from  a  pic- 
ture of  a  concrete  object,  which  contains  in 
itself  a  complete  idea.  Of  course,  as  learn- 
ing advances,  these  ideographs  are  devised 
to  convey  abstract  ideas.  But  the  ideo- 
graph always  stands  as  the  very  antithesis 
of  an  alphabetic  language.  It  is  probably 
true  that  the  use  of  those  ideographs  served 
to  retard  the  development  of  the  Chinese 
beyond  a  certain  point.  This,  however,  is  a 
subject  to  which  we  must  return  in  a  later 
chapter. 

Even  if  the  Chinese  nomads  did  traverse 
the  almost  uninhabited  regions  of  Western 
Central  Asia,  where  there  Avas  practically 
nobody  to  oppose  their  progress,  we  may  be 
quite  sure  that  when  they  had  crossed  the 
mountains  and  desert,  and  emerged  into  the 
province  of  Kansuh  they  promptly  found 
the  inhabitants  ready  to  fight  with  them  in 
defense  of  their  homes.  For  the  Chinese 
were  not  the  first  inhabitants  of  that  coun- 
try. "  Aborigines  "  is  a  word  that  is  loosely 
used,  and  it  is  impossible  to  say  that  the 
people  whom  the  Chinese  found  in  Shensi 
wore  absolutely  aborigines.  That  province 
of  Shensi  is  just  west  of  the  great  bend  of 


14     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

the  Yellow  River  which  is  here  forced  by 
the  Peling  Mountains  to  turn  sharply  to 
the  east  after  coming  down  in  an  almost 
straight  course  from  the  Mongolian  fron- 
tier and  the  Altai  Shan. 

The  Chinese  conquered  the  aborigines,  it 
is  true,  but  they  were  rarely  guilty  of  a  di- 
rect effort  to  exterminate  on  a  wholesale 
scale,  and  they  probably  remained  quietly 
in  Shensi  for  some  time.  Then  they  pushed 
themselves  farther  and  farther  south  and 
west;  but  they  were  strangely  slow  in  get- 
ting into  the  east  and  southeast  or  the  rich 
coast  provinces.  Eventually,  however,  they 
became  masters  of  China:  that  is  the  eight- 
een provinces  of  what  the  peoi)le  meant  when 
they  spoke  of  Chung-kwoh;  it  did  not  for- 
merly include  Manchuria,  Mongolia,  Tibet, 
and  the  outlying  possessions  toward  the 
west  and  northwest.  I  do  not  know  if  the 
name  is  now  used  inclusively  or  not;  but  I 
suppose  it  is. 

At  any  rate  when  the  famous  Chinese  his- 
torian Sz-ma  Ts'ien  appeared,  in  the  first 
century  B.  C,  he  declared  that  during  the 
later  years  of  the  Chou  Dynasty,  or  from 
827  to  255  B.  C,  the  records  of  his  country 
become  reliable,  and  his  opinion  has  been 
confirmed  by  some  bamboo  slips  bearing  in- 
cised writing  —  done  with  a  style  —  that 
were  found  in  A.  D.  284  in  the  grave  of  a 


WHO   ARE   THE   CHINESE?  15 

feudal  chief  who  had  lived  in  North  China 
during  the  fourth  century  B.  C.  In  Sz-ma 
Ts'ien's  time,  the  eighteen  provinces  were 
not  organized  as  they  were  subsequently,  but 
the  Chinese  State  had  been  firmly  estab- 
lished. 


CHAPTER  II 

TEE  BEPUBLIC  OF  CHINA 

ALTHOUGH  we  have  been  accustomed, 
and  quite  properly,  to  think  of  China 
as  the  oldest  continuous  imperial  govern- 
ment in  the  world,  as  a  matter  of  fact  the 
united  China  proper,  that  is  the  eighteen 
provinces  which  are  considered  when  a  true 
Chinese  speaks  of  the  Middle  Kingdom,  be- 
came a  united  State  only  about  two  thou- 
sand years  ago.  The  great  Emperor  Shih 
Hwang  Ti  (often  spoken  and  written  of 
as  Ch'in  Hsih  Huang)  effected  the  union 
of  the  various  feudal  states  that  had  main- 
tained a  sort  of  independence  until  that 
time.  He  then  divided  the  country  into 
thirty-six  provinces  and  to  each  he  appointed 
three  high  rank  officials  to  administer  the 
affairs  of  that  particular  province.  The  of- 
ficials were  held  to  be  directly  responsible 
to  the  emperor  himself,  and  the  system  then 
established  continued  without  material 
change  until  the  overthrow  of  the  Manchu 
dynasty  which  abdicated  February  12,  1912. 
This  statement  in  no  way  impugns  that 
which  has  been  made  by  so  many  writers 
as  to  the  great  age  and  continuity  of  the 

16 


THE    REPUBLIC    OF    CHINA  17 

Chinese  nation.  Its  history  is  remarkable 
and  for  many  reasons.  Even  if  a  wonderful 
and  radical  change  has  recently  taken  place 
in  the  form  of  government,  that  does  not 
break  the  sequence  of  the  historical  record. 
There  were  other  great  States  which  rivaled 
China  in  the  matter  of  antiquity:  Egypt, 
Babylonia,  Assyria,  and  later  Rome,  for  ex- 
ample. They  were  created  by  remarkable 
men ;  they  were  for  a  time  contemporaneous 
with  China ;  they  reached  the  zenith  of  their 
development  in  extent  and  power;  but  they 
passed  away  while  China  continued  to  exist, 
and  still  exists  with  a  new  lease  of  strength 
and  possibilities  which  promises  well  for  the 
future. 

If  a  republic  in  form  of  government  and 
in  being  representative  of  the  whole  people 
is  something  entirely  new  in  China,  it  can- 
not be  truthfully  said  that  the  idea  in  cer- 
tain senses  is  altogether  an  unknown  one  to 
the  Chinese.  The  people  of  that  land  have 
always  been  surprisingly  democratic  in  some 
respects,  and  all  authorities  agree  in  say- 
ing that  wliile  the  Chinese  gave  little  heed 
to  what  was  happening  on  and  around  the 
throne  at  tlie  capital  —  wherever  that  might 
be  for  the  moment, —  they  insisted  upon  hav- 
ing more  than  a  merely  feeble  voice  as  to 
how  the  affairs  of  their  own  province,  city, 
or   village   should   be   administered.     Thev 


18     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

did  not  actually  demand  popular  repre- 
sentation in  the  way  that  is  coming  to  them 
now,  but  they  long  ago  showed  a  spirit  which 
—  when  properly  trained  and  fairly  con- 
trolled—  will  probably  fit  them  to  exercise 
republican  rights  in  a  surprisingly  satis- 
factory manner. 

Socialism  has  never  attained  such  popu- 
larity as  to  make  it  a  prominent  factor  in 
the  spirit  of  the  Chinese  people  or  in  their 
institutions;  yet  there  are  several  recorded 
instances  of  a  disposition  on  the  part  of 
some  fairly  strong  men  in  China  to  give  to 
the  people  more  consideration  than  they 
had.  The  most  conspicuous  example  of 
this  sort  of  socialism,  was  that  proposed  by 
Wang  An-shih  during  the  reign  of  Emperor 
'Shen'lDsung  (Chin  Tsong  II,  A.  D.  1068  to 
1086)  of  the  great  Sung  dynasty. 

That  Emperor  himself  was  so  much  im- 
pressed with  what  this  man  suggested  that 
he  did  try  to  put  the  radical  ideas  into  prac- 
tise. The  principal  features  of  this  reform 
were.  First :  Taxes  to  be  paid  in  produce  and 
manufactures;  the  surplus  of  produce  and 
commodities  to  be  purchased  by  the  Govern- 
ment. They  were  then  to  be  sent  to  those 
parts  of  the  Empire  where  there  was  a  de- 
mand and  sold  for  a  reasonable  profit.  The 
direct  intention  of  this  scheme  was  to  do 
away    with    middlemen    and    unscrupulous 


THE   REPUBLIC    OF    CHINA  19 

merchants.  Second:  the  Government  was 
to  advance  money  to  the  farmers  who  had  no 
means  or  insufficient  capital;  these  loans 
to  be  repaid  after  the  harvest.  The  rate  of 
interest  on  such  advances  was  to  be  two  per 
cent,  per  month.  This,  of  course,  seems  to 
us  usurious ;  but  it  should  be  borne  in  mind 
that  money  sharks  in  China  were  then,  as 
they  are  likely  to  be  now,  extorting  from 
fifty  to  two  hundred  per  cent,  from  any  un- 
fortunate farmer  who  fell  into  their  clutches. 
Third:  conscription  was  to  be  introduced. 
The  Empire  was  to  be  divided  into  districts 
according  to  families,  and  each  family  with 
more  than  one  son  was  to  give  one  for  mili- 
tary service.  In  times  of  peace  those  men 
were  to  pursue  their  customary  avocation; 
but  when  war  broke  out  they  were  to  be 
called  to  the  colors  and  must  be  ready  to  go 
at  once  to  the  seat  of  war.  Fourth:  until 
the  time  of  An-shih  all  public  works  had 
been  constructed  by  compulsory  labor.  It 
was  now  proposed  to  levy  an  income  tax 
upon  each  family  in  order  to  provide  funds 
for  these  public  works.  Of  all  the  reforms 
this  is  said  to  have  met  with  the  most  vio- 
lent opposition.  The  experiment  was  tried 
for  a  time,  but  it  did  not  prove  successful 
and  before  long  the  laws  promulgated  by  the 
Emperor  to  carry  into  effect  tlie  proj)osed 
reforms  were  annulled.     It  will  be  remem- 


20     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

bered  that  Kang  Yu-wei,  as  adviser  of  the 
late  Emperor  Kwang  Hsii,  advocated  some- 
what similar  reform  and  secured  a  favorable 
hearing  from  his  imperial  patron.  If  he 
had  not  managed  to  get  out  of  the  country 
he  would  have  been  executed,  as  were  so 
many  of  his  friends,  by  the  great  Empress 
Dowager. 

The  flag  which  has  been  adopted  by  the 
Chinese  Republic  itself  indicates  how  far 
from  their  past  the  new  rulers  at  least  hope 
they  have  gone.  The  old  flag  was  an  elon- 
gated triangle,  called  technically  a  pennant, 
its  base  towards  the  staff,  yellow  in  color, 
with  a  notched  or  saw-tooth  edge,  and  in  the 
center  a  curving,  twisting,  snarling  dragon. 
It  was  typical  in  every  way.  The  color 
stood  for  the  rulers,  the  hated  Manchus ;  the 
edge  typified  the  rough  attitude  that  the 
Manchu  Government  adopted  towards  all 
people  in  every  direction;  the  dragon  was 
peculiarly  Chinese,  breathing  forth  fire  to 
consume  whatever  stood  before  it.  It  was 
not  a  pretty  banner,  no  matter  how  we  con- 
sider it :  in  shape,  color,  or  design ;  and  as  a 
whole  it  was  as  blatant  as  the  threats  which' 
the  Peking  Government  used  to  make,  for 
there  never  was  one  of  them  that  the  au- 
thorities could  enforce. 

The  new  flag  is  appropriate  in  form,  for 
it  is  that  which  has  been  adopted  conven- 


THE   REPUBLIC    OF   CHINA  21 

tionally  by  all  nations  as  an  ensign,  and  the 
design  is  emblematic.  There  is  just  a  little 
imitation  of  the  Star  Spangled  Banner,  be- 
cause the  five  stripes  indicate  a  union  of  the 
many  principal  factors  in  the  new  state,  as 
do  the  thirteen  stripes  in  our  flag  stand 
for  the  thirteen  original  colonies  which 
banded  themselves  together  to  form  the 
United  States  of  America. 

But  the  five  factors  in  the  Chinese  Ee- 
public  are  not  distinct  yet  co-ordinate  states. 
They  tell  us  that  the  Chinese  Empire  was 
and  the  Chinese  Republic  is  a  coalition  of 
several  peoples  who  are  all  of  Mongoloid 
type.  To  the  topmost  stripe  of  the  flag  the 
Chinese  themselves  have  laid  claim,  thus  as- 
suming precedence  over  the  Manchus;  there- 
fore the  red  stripe  stands  for  the  407,253,000 
people  of  the  eighteen  provinces  of  China 
proper.  It  is  rather  strange  that  they 
should  have  chosen  this  color  for  them- 
selves, because  they  are  not  really  a  martial 
people  and  red  is  the  recognized  sign  of  the 
god  of  war.  The  next  stripe  from  the  top 
is  yellow  and  it  is  to  represent  the  16,000,- 
000  people  of  Manchuria.  The  pale  blue 
color  of  the  next  lower  stripe  is  for  the 
2,600,000  inhabitants  of  :Mongolia.  The 
next  stripe,  white,  is  for  the  6,500,000  people 
of  Tibet,  while  the  black  stripe  at  the  bot- 
tom is  for  the  1,200,000  peoples  of  Chinese 


22     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

Turkestan,  etc.,  nearly  all  of  whom  are  Ma- 
hometans. 

I  have  taken  my  figures  from  the  last  edi- 
tion of  the  Statesman's  Year  Book,  but  I 
entirely  agree  with  the  Hon.  W.  W.  Rock- 
hill,  who  is  now  our  Ambassador  to  Turkey, 
but  who  was  for  several  years  Minister  to 
China,  and  before  that  a  great  traveler 
throughout  the  Chinese  Empire.  Mr. 
Rockhill  thinks  that  the  population  of 
China  proper  is  probably  less  than  270,000,- 
000  at  the  present  time.  I  add  that  my  own 
opinion  is  that  when  a  proper  census  is 
taken  of  the  Chinese  Republic  in  extenso  (if 
that  time  ever  comes)  it  will  be  found  that 
the  433,553,030  shrinks  by  much  more  than 
one  hundred  millions;  and  this  opinion  has 
been  confirmed  by  several  Europeans,  gen- 
erally Germans  or  Frenchmen,  who  have  re- 
cently had  better  opportunity  for  travel  in 
the  interior  of  China  than  I.  Even  so,  in 
the  matter  of  population  the  Chinese  Re- 
public at  once  takes  a  prominent  place  in 
the  world,  and  the  character  of  the  popula- 
tion is  high. 

When  we  come  to  areas,  it  is  easier  to  tell 
more  precisely  what  the  extent  of  the 
Chinese  Republic  is,  because  geographical 
divisions  are  more  readily  defined  and  meas- 
ured than  is  population.  The  eighteen 
provinces  of  China  proper  have  an   area, 


THE   EEPUBLIC    OF    CHINA  23 

estimated  it  is  true,  as  is  the  case  with  all 
other  divisions,  yet  fairly  exact,  of  1,532,- 
420  square  miles,  Manchuria  303,610,  Mon- 
golia 1,367,600,  Tibet  463,200,  Chinese 
Turkestan,  etc.,  550,340,  a  grand  total  of 
4,277,170;  as  against  that  of  the  United 
States  including  all  outlying  possessions  of 
3,699,076  square  miles.  So  that  the  newest 
Republic  in  size  is  decidedly  the  largest  in 
the  world. 

China's  right  to  include  all  of  Manchuria 
is  disputed  by  Russia  and  Japan ;  and  Rus- 
sia would  certainly  declare  that  the  Chinese 
Republic  has  little  or  nothing  to  say  about 
Mongolia,  and  little,  if  anything,  about 
Eastern  Turkestan,  etc.,  yet  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  when  the  great  Powers  of  the  world 
have  followed  the  example  of  the  United 
States  in  recognizing  the  Republic  of  China 
and  have  shown  a  disposition  to  admit  and 
uphold  her  lawful  claims,  all  of  these  out- 
lying portions  may  be  restored  absolutely. 
Not  only  so,  but  there  Avill  probably  be 
evinced  a  willingness  to  restore  such  places 
as  Weihaiwei,  Kiaochau  (Tsintau),  and 
perhaps  others  that  are  not  of  much  use  or 
benefit  to  the  European  Powers  that  have 
secured  possession  of  them. 

People  of  the  United  States  are  naturally 
inclined  to  judge  of  our  Chinese  neiglibors 
by  the  coolies,  laundrymen,  house  servants, 


24     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

shop-keepers,  and  others  who  are  conspicu- 
ous; and  because  of  the  preponderance  of 
the  first  two  classes  to  set  their  standard 
of  Chinese  intelligence  at  a  rather  low  point. 
This  is  most  unfair.  I  do  not  mean  to 
intimate  that  our  Chinese  neighbors  are 
conspicuous  for  education,  but  there  are 
really  very  few  Chinese,  above  the  peasant 
class,  who  cannot  read  and  write  a  little. 
Their  ideographic  language  makes  it  possi- 
ble for  a  person  to  learn  the  few  score,  or 
possibly  few  hundreds,  characters  that  are 
useful  in  his  particular  trade,  without  his 
bothering  himself  to  learn  a  great  number 
of  those  which  specifically  pertain  to  some 
other  occupation.  The  market  gardener 
knows  how  to  make  the  symbols  that  stand 
for  his  wares ;  the  laundryman  has  command 
of  his  own  special  vocabulary,  and  so  with 
others.  In  a  certain  sense  the  same  limita- 
tion exists  among  our  own  lower  classes, 
whose  vocabulary  it  will  be  found  is  aston- 
ishingly limited;  and  even  people  who  are 
properly  credited  with  a  fair  education  do 
not  as  a  rule  make  use  of  more  than  a  few 
thousand  words. 

It  would  take  very  much  more  space  than 
is  at  my  command  to  give  a  complete  descrip- 
tion of  the  natural  features  of  the  Great 
Eepublic  of  China.  Every  phase  of  natural 
scenery  is  to  be  found  in  some  portion  or 


THE   REPUBLIC    OF    CHINA  25 

another  thereof.  Along  the  eastern  coast 
there  are  smiling  valleys  in  which  the  culti- 
vated fields  come  down  so  far  that  their 
protecting  dikes  are  lapped  by  the  sea 
waves;  or  there  are  stretches  of  clear  sandy 
beach,  where  bathing  is  to  be  enjoyed  to  the 
fullest,  or  there  are  bold,  rocky  headlands 
that  stand  as  a  menace  to  the  unwary  navi- 
gator or  as  protecting  giants,  according  as 
one  is  disposed  to  look  upon  them. 

Back  from  the  coast  in  the  innumerable 
river  valleys,  agriculture  of  every  kind  is 
carried  on  with  an  incisiveness  which  makes 
the  beholder  marvel  that  man,  with  the  ap- 
parently inadequate  accessories  which  the 
Chinese  agriculturalist  possesses,  can  have 
done  so  much.  Yet  it  has  to  be  admitted 
that  when  the  crops  are  measured  by  pounds 
or  bushels  or  whatever  the  standard  may  be, 
and  the  value  computed  by  prices  the  farmer 
receives,  the  return  is  absurdly  inadequate. 
There  ought  to  be  some  great  missionary 
work  done  among  the  agricultural  classes 
of  China  to  enable  them  to  get  nearer  one 
hundred  cents  value  for  each  dollar's  worth 
of  labor,  seed,  and  fertilizer  that  they  put 
into  their  fields  than  they  now  secure.  But 
it  will  be  a  long  and  discouraging  task, 
because  the  conservatism  of  the  Chinese 
peasant  is  almost  adamantine.  To  change 
from   the   time-honored   ways   of   his   fore- 


26     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

fathers  will  seem  to  him  both  useless  and 
actually  dishonorable.  Yet  this  is  only  one 
of  the  changes  that  must  come  to  Republican 
China. 

In  picturesqueness  the  river  valleys  of 
China  need  fear  no  comparison  with  the 
rest  of  the  world.  Their  lower  reaches  will 
seem  tame,  because  they  flow  through  such 
wide  stretches  of  flat  country,  yet  this  is 
markedly  true  of  the  Yang-tze  only.  The 
southernmost  river  of  some  importance,  is 
the  White  River  that  flows  past  Canton 
and  empties  into  the  bay  between  Hong- 
kong and  Macao  at  Boca  Tigres,  "  The 
Tiger's  Mouth."  This  is  just  below 
Whampoa,  which  place  itself  offers  much  of 
interest  both  historically  and  scenically ;  as 
soon  as  one  enters  the  river  it  recalls  the 
episodes  of  a  century  ago,  when  Europe  was 
insisting  upon  the  right  to  trade  and  to  trade 
as  contributed  most  to  the  pockets  of 
British  and  other  alien  subjects.  The  his- 
tory will  arouse  varying  sensations  accord- 
ing to  the  sentiments  of  the  traveler. 
Thence  up  that  same  river,  which  bears 
many  Chinese  names,  to  the  head  of  naviga- 
tion there  is  abundance  of  that  which  is 
picturesque  in  every  way. 

As  it  is  practically  impossible  to  ascend 
the  great  Yang-tze  River  from  mouth  to 
source,  it  is  well  now  that  we  are  in  the 


THE   REPUBLIC    OF    CHINA  27 

region  where  it  begins,  to  pass  from  the 
headwaters  of  the  White  Kiver  into  the 
mountains  of  Tibet.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
this,  the  greatest  river  of  Asia,  as  well  as 
the  Mekong  that  flows  down  into  the  Shan 
States  and  French  Indo-China,  are  very 
neighborly,  and  furthermore  that  the  great 
Brahmaputra,  is  not  far  away. 

In  that  great  world  of  mountains,  the 
extreme  eastern  portion  of  the  Himalayas, 
there  is  everything  that  the  seeker  after  a 
mingling  of  the  picturesque  with  a  spice  of 
danger  can  ask.  The  Imperial  Government 
of  China  never  did  succeed  in  establishing 
firmly  its  rule  so  as  to  make  traveling  per- 
fectly secure  for  the  explorer  in  this  region, 
and  fhe  Republic  will  probably  have  a  good 
deal  to  do  before  it  can  accomplish  that 
same  desired  end.  Still  it  need  not  be  fatal 
''  to  go  there  and  there  remains  something 
for  the  explorer  yet  to  do,  besides  enjoying 
mountain  scenery  that  is  wonderful. 

If  one  were  to  combine  the  Chinese  rec- 
ords of  the  Hoang-ho,  we  call  it  the  Yellow 
River,  with  the  accounts  that  interested  and 
observing  strangers  have  given  us,  it  would 
be  a  long  and  pathetic  story.  Most  properly 
have  the  Chinese  people  given  to  that  way- 
ward river  the  pseudonym  which  means 
"  China's  Sorrow,"  because  neither  wars  nor 
oppressions  have  begun  to  bring  a  tithe  of 


28     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

the  sorrow  that  the  river  has  caused  the 
people  from  time  almost  immemorial.  Its 
name  "  Yellow "  is  well  chosen  because  of 
the  muddy  color  of  the  water ;  but  what  does 
that  earthy  tint  imply? 

Follow  up  the  stream  from  its  present 
mouth  on  the  Gulf  of  Chihli  and  note  the 
bare  hills,  and  then  the  bare  mountains. 
Their  sides  are  now  scarcely  more  than 
naked  rocks;  yet  there  was  a  time  far  back 
in  history  when  those  hills  and  mountains 
were  covered  with  dense  forests.  Had 
there  been  a  glimmer  of  the  science  of  forest 
conservation  in  those  remote  ages,  there 
would  be  none  of  those  terrible  tales  of 
"  China's  Sorrow  "  sweeping  to  death  a  mil- 
lion or  more  people  in  one  flood.  The 
money  value  of  the  damage  wrought  by  the 
river  cannot  be  computed.  But  the  sense- 
less destruction  of  forests  has  always  been 
the  greatest  curse  of  the  Chinese  people,  and 
nothing  is  being  done  even  now  to  compel 
them  to  mend  their  ways. 

After  rivers,  one  naturally  thinks  of 
lakes.  Of  these  there  are  no  great  ones  in 
any  part  of  the  Republic.  The  Chinese 
themselves  admire  almost  extravagantly 
what  is  called  the  Poyang  Lake,  but  it  is 
really  nothing  more  than  the  spreading  out 
of  the  Yang-tze  River  into  a  great  depres- 
sion south  of  the  river  and  near  the  city 


THE   REPUBLIC   OF   CHINA  29 

of  Hankow.     Yet  this  lake  figures  largely 
in  art  and  poetry. 

Scattered  all  over  the  Republic  there  are 
many  small  mountain  tarns,  that  would  be 
popular  and  attractive  were  it  not  for  the 
naked  hills  which  surround  them.  What 
the  future  may  bring  forth  it  is  hazardous 
to  say,  but  it  is  possible  that  as  the  rule  of 
authority  extends  and  facilities  for  travel- 
ing in  the  interior  become  greater,  some 
of  these  mountain  lakes  may  become  as  pop- 
ular summer  resorts  as  are  several  of  the 
Japanese  lakes. 


CHAPTER  III 

MYTHS  ABOUT  CREATION  AND  OTHER 
THINGS 

FUH-HI  is  said  to  have  been  tlie  first 
earthly  sovereign  who  ruled  in  any 
part  of  the  domain  that  we  call  China.  His 
accession  is  placed  at  some  time  between 
3,322  to  2,852  B.  C,  and  with  him  com- 
mences the  period  which  the  Chinese  know 
by  the  title  of  "  The  Time  of  Higkest  An- 
tiquity." Yet  before  Fuh-hi  back  to  the 
creation  of  heaven  and  earth,  there  was  an 
interval  of  at  least  five  hundred  thousand 
years.  Because  of  a  similarity  in  the  sound 
of  that  first  earthly  sovereign's  name 
"  Fuh  "  with  the  name  which  the  Chinese 
give  to  Buddha,  "  Fuh "  or  "  Foh,"  some 
Chinese  declare  that  they  were  one  and  the 
same  person,  but  it  is  needless  to  say  this 
confusion  is  without  a  semblance  of  founda- 
tion. 

There  are  innumerable  myths  and  legends 
connected  with  the  creation  to  be  found  in 
Chinese  literature.  This  is  just  what  we 
should  be  lead  to  expect  of  a  people  so  in- 
tensely superstitious  as  practically  all  of 
the  Chinese  were,  and  as  many  of  them  are 

30 


MYTHS  31 

even  now.  Yet  not  all  of  them  were  so 
childishly  superstitious.  One  of  the  best 
and  cleverest  of  their  historians,  Yang  Tse 
who  is  often  quoted  bv  the  earliest  Ameri- 
can and  European  writers  about  China,  de- 
clared :  "  Who  knows  the  affairs  of  remote 
antiquity,  since  no  authentic  records  have 
come  down  to  us?  He  who  examines  those 
stories  will  find  it  difficult  to  believe  them, 
and  careful  scrutiny  will  convince  him  that 
they  are  without  foundation.  In  the 
primeval  ages  no  historical  records  were 
kept.  Why  then,  since  the  ancient  books 
that  described  those  times  were  burned  by 
Tsin,  should  we  misrepresent  those  remote 
ages,  and  satisfy  ourselves  with  vague 
fables?  However,  as  everything  except 
Heaven  and  Earth  must  have  had  a  cause, 
it  is  clear  that  they  have  always  existed, 
and  that  cause  produced  all  sorts  of  men 
and  beings,  and  endowed  them  with  their 
various  qualities.  But  it  must  have  been 
man  who  in  the  beginning  produced  all 
things  on  earth,  and  who  may  therefore  be 
viewed  as  the  lord  and  from  whom  rulers 
derived  their  dignities." 

The  ordinary  Chinese  philosophers  of 
ancient  times  felt  called  upon  to  advance 
some  sort  of  theory  as  to  the  creation  of  the 
world.  Having  no  idea  of  a  Supremo  God, 
by  whom  all  things  were  created,  they  de- 


32       OUR  NEIGHBOES:     THE   CHINESE 

vised  a  theory  which  satisfied  them  and 
those  who  listened  to  them,  or  afterwards 
read  their  writings.  According  to  this  the- 
ory there  were  two  great  and  mysterious 
principles  in  nature,  the  male  and  the  fe- 
male or  as  they  called  them  "  The  Yang," 
which  was  strong  or  hard,  and  "  The  Yin," 
which  was  weak  or  soft.  These  produced 
heaven  and  earth  in  very  much  the  same  way 
as  children  are  born  to  human  parents,  and 
afterwards  all  things  were  similarly  pro- 
duced. 

One  of  those  philosophers  explained  this 
theory  concisely  thus :  Keason  produced 
one;  one  produced  two;  two  produced 
three ;  three  produced  all  things.  But  what 
was  Keason?  Some  give  it  the  name  of 
Tae-keih;  but  this  is  not  at  all  satisfactory 
for  it  means  simply  "  Great  Power."  By 
this  scheme  of  creation,  then,  heaven  and 
earth  were  separated  in  a  measure;  yet  all 
was  chaos.  Then  appeared  Pwanku  or 
P'au  Ku,  who  was  the  first  inhabitant  of 
this  earth.  One  legendary  explanation  of 
this  name  is  interesting  and  ingenious: 
Pwan  means  a  "  basin,"  referring  to  the 
shell  of  an  eri;g;  Ku  means  "  solid  or  to  se- 
cure," intending  to  show  how  the  first  man 
Pwanku  was  hatched  from  the  chaos  by  the 
dual  powers,  and  then  settled  and  exhibited 
the  arrangement  of  the  causes  which  pro- 


MYTHS  33 

duced  him.  Pwanku  set  himself  to  the  task 
of  giving  form  to  the  heavens  and  the  earth. 
With  a  mighty  chisel  and  mallet  he  split 
off  and  fashioned  the  great  masses  of 
granite  that  surrounded  him.  Through 
some  of  the  openings  thus  made,  the  sun, 
moon,  and  stars  appeared.  Always  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  pictorial  art  are  his  com- 
panions, the  dragon,  the  phoenix,  and  the 
tortoise;  the  unicorn  is  sometimes  added, 
but  no  explanation  of  their  creation  or  rea- 
son for  their  being  is  given.  Pwanku  lab- 
ored for  eighteen  thousand  years,  and  little 
by  little  his  work  developed  while  he  him- 
self increased  in  stature.  He  grew  six  feet 
each  day  until  his  work  was  finished,  when 
he  died. 

"  His  head  became  mountains,  his  breath 
wind  and  clouds,  and  his  voice  thunder ;  his 
limbs  were  changed  into  the  four  poles,  his 
veins  into  rivers,  the  sinews  into  the  undula- 
tions of  the  earth's  surface,  and  his  flesh 
into  fields;  his  beard,  like  Berenice's  hair, 
was  turned  into  stars,  his  skin  and  hair  into 
herbs  and  trees,  and  his  teeth,  bones,  and 
marrow  into  metals,  rocks,  and  precious 
stones;  his  dropping  sweat  increased  to  rain, 
and  lastly  {nascitur  ridiculus  m'lis)  the  in- 
sects which  stuck  to  his  body  were  trans- 
formed into  people  I  ''  * 

*  The  Middle  Kingdom,  S.  Wells  Williams. 


34     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

It  is  a  marvelous  pity  that  Pwanku's 
tortoise  did  not  survive  at  least  until  men 
had  developed  the  art  of  writing,  for  on  the 
creature's  thick  upper  shell  was  written  — 
so  it  is  declared  —  the  history  of  the  world 
up  to  that  time;  but  the  priceless  record 
was  lost  forever! 

It  will  be  noticed  that  lightning  is  not 
mentioned  in  this  account.  That  is  because 
the  fire  from  heaven  and  the  thunder  were 
not  associated  as  related  phenomena,  until 
long  after  the  Chinese  had  made  great  ad- 
vance in  culture.  The  anger  of  the  celestial 
beings  was  displayed  by  that  fire  from 
heaven,  but  that  it  caused  the  thunder  did 
not  at  first  occur  to  those  simple  people. 

When  Pwanku's  task  was  finished  there 
came  three  mythological  personages,  who 
are  called,  respectively,  the  Celestial,  the 
Terrestrial,  and  the  Human  Sovereigns. 
They  were  of  gigantic  form  and  are  asso- 
ciated in  a  curious  trinity  of  persons,  heav- 
enly, earthly,  human.  Each  one  lived  for 
eighteen  thousand  years.  In  this  wonder- 
ful cosmogony  there  appeared,  after  the 
three  sovereigns  had  passed  away,  two  other 
monarchs  who  were  almost  as  famous,  and 
apparently  they  were  much  more  beneficent 
to  ordinary  mortals,  that  is,  later  human 
beings. 


MYTHS  35 

The  first  of  this  trinity  was  Yu-chau, 
which  means  "  having  a  nest "  because  he 
taught  the  numerous  progeny  of  his  ances- 
tors to  build  nests.  Whether  this  means  lit- 
erally that  the  remote  ancestors  of  the  Chi- 
nese were  tree-dwellers,  like  the  Indians  on 
the  Orinoco  River  of  South  America,  and 
elsewhere  in  the  world,  or  is  used  figura- 
tively, it  is  impossible  to  say ;  but  probably 
it  is  simply  a  fanciful  way  of  saying  that  the 
people  from  thenceforth  dwelt  in  something 
like  habitations,  having  previously  lived  in 
caves,  when  they  did  not  sleep  in  the  open. 

The  second  of  those  monarchs,  Sui-jin,  or 
"  fire-man  "  discovered  that  by  rubbing  two 
pieces  of  dried  wood  together  he  produced 
fire.  This  blessed  Promethean  gift  was  of 
inestimable  benefit  to  mankind,  who  had 
until  then  been  compelled  to  eat  all  food 
raw.  Flesh  and  certain  vegetables  were 
now  properly  cooked  and  the  people  were 
greatly  delighted  at  this  wonderful  improve- 
ment. 

The  people  had  not  yet  any  mode  of  writ- 
ing or  keeping  accounts.  Sui-jin  therefore 
took  cords  of  different  colors  or  materials 
in  which  he  tied  knots  that  served  him  as 
memoranda  for  keeping  some  of  his  records. 
We  recognize  in  this  the  quipus  of  South 
AuK^'ica.     I>3'    developing    this    ingenious 


36     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

process,  people  eventually  became  expert  in 
imparting  information  to  distant  friends. 
Sui-jin  also  erected  a  public  assembly  ball 
wberein  the  people  were  given  instruction 
in  various  matters,  and  by  thus  associating 
together  they  advanced  in  culture.  The 
Chinese  records  of  these  myths  are  so 
phrased  as  to  lead  us  to  suppose  the  people 
were  all  in  one  great  community ;  this,  how- 
ever, is  a  detail  which  demands  neither  con- 
firmation nor  refutation.  There  are  so 
many  other  myths  and  legends  which  de- 
serve at  least  a  little  attention,  that  we  must 
pass  on  from  those  relating  to  Creation. 

Fuh-hi,  who  was  mentioned  at  the  open- 
ing of  this  chapter,  is  given  rank  and  dig- 
nity of  being  called  "  the  first  of  the  Five 
Emperors,"  who  appeared  as  the  mist 
partially  blew  away  when  the  purely  my- 
thological era  had  ended.  That  Fuh-hi  is 
also  given  the  honor  of  having  been  the 
founder  of  the  Chinese  Empire.  He  reigned 
in  Shensi  from  2,852  to  2,C52  B.  C,  and 
his  capital  was  Hwa-sen.  He  must  have 
been  something  of  a  philosopher  as  well  as 
a  monarch.  In  his  time  and  for  many  cen- 
turies afterwards,  the  fact  of  being  Emperor 
or  ruler,  whether  it  was  of  a  petty  princi- 
pality or  the  empire  which  gradually  de- 
veloped, meant  that  the  sovereign  was  also 
a  soldier,  for  it  was  expected  that  he  should 


MYTHS  37 

lead  his  people  in  war  or  lie  could  not  govern 
them  properly  in  peace. 

Had  this  principle  been  lived  up  to  con- 
stantly by  the  later  Chinese,  they  might 
have  been  able  to  make  a  better  fight  than 
they  did  against  the  Tartars, —  Mongols  and 
Manchus.  Fuh-hi  was  interested  in  study- 
ing the  course  of  Nature,  the  seeming  regu- 
larity of  the  recurring  seasons  inspired  him 
with  a  desire  to  trace  the  causes  of  her  great 
revolution.  He  therefore  invented  a  system 
of  lines,  one  long  and  two  short,  which  in 
combination  gave  eight  trigrams,  or  Kwa, 
each  one  of  which  represents  a  natural  ob- 
ject, Heaven,  the  Sky,  Water  collected  in 
marsh  or  lake,  Fire,  Thunder,  Wind,  Water 
in  clouds,  rain,  springs,  streams,  and  also 
the  Moon,  Hills  or  Mountains,  and  the 
Earth. 

They  also  denote  attributes  arbitrarily 
arranged  according  to  the  natural  object : 
Strength,  Power;  Pleasure,  Satisfaction; 
Brightness,  Elegance;  Moving  Power,  Flex- 
ibility; Peril,  Difficulty;  Resting;  Caprici- 
ousness,  Submission.  They  stand,  too,  for 
the  eight  cardinal  points  of  the  compass  ac- 
cording to  Chinese  ideas:  south,  southeast, 
east,  northeast,  southwest,  west,  northwest, 
and  north.  They  likewise  furnish  the 
state  and  position,  at  any  time  or  place, 
of  the  two-fold  division  of  the  one  primor- 


38     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

dial  kij  or  "Air."  Thus  they  become  the 
source  whence  the  system  of  Fung-shui  is 
derived. 

Fung-shui  literally  means  "  Wind  and 
Water,"  and  is  the  foundation  of  a  wonder- 
ful geomancy,  which  contained  most  of  the 
Chinese  science  and  explained,  in  an  un- 
satisfactory way,  their  superstition.  Al- 
though based  upon  Fuh-hi's  kiva,  yet  this 
Fung-shui  was  not  systematized  until  the 
twelfth  century  of  our  era;  after  that  it 
extended  its  influence  and  continuity  until 
very  recent  times.  It  would  be  impossible 
to  discuss  Fung-shui  thoroughly,  unless  one 
entire  volume  were  devoted  to  the  subject. 
Its  most  important  influence,  so  far  as  for- 
eigners were  concerned,  was  that  it  de- 
termined the  choice  of  a  burial  place,  being 
supposed  to  be  connected  with  the  past,  pres- 
ent, and  future. 

A  grave  having  been  located  by  the  Fung- 
shui  Siensang,  "  Wind  and  Water  Doctor," 
its  removal  or  any  interference  with  it 
would  entail  disaster;  hence  it  was  Fung- 
shui  that  so  often  stood  as  an  obstruction 
to  the  building  of  railways,  opening  of 
mines,  and  many  other  industrial  improve- 
ments. With  the  change  that  has  taken 
place  in  education  and  habit  of  thought, 
the  influence  of  Fung-shui  has  been  pretty 
nearly  relegated  to  oblivion;  although   in 


MYTHS  39 

remote  districts  it  is  still  troublesome  some- 
times; and  the  determination  of  a  burial 
place  is  even  now  determined  by  the  Fung- 
shui  Siensang. 

Myth  attributes  to  Fuh-hi  many  other 
beneficial  things,  and  after  living  some  two 
hundred  years,  he  died  greatly  regretted. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  here  to  distinguish 
between  fact  and  fiction  because  of  the 
former  there  is  practically  none.  Whether 
it  was  Fuh-hi,  or  Hwang-ti,  who  came  after 
him,  or  Tsang-kieh,  who  is  alleged  to  have 
flourished  about  2700  B.  C,  that  invented 
writing,  does  not  much  matter.  The  art 
was  certainly  of  great  antiquity,  and  the 
myth  attached  to  it  says  that  it  came  from 
the  last  mentioned  personage  noticing  the 
markings  on  the  shell  of  a  tortoise.  By 
similar  lines  and  then  imitating  common 
objects  in  nature,  symbols  to  represent  ideas 
were  devised.  It  will  be  noted  that  in  this 
myth  there  seems  to  be  a  survival  of  that 
connected  with  Pwan-ku's  attendant  tor- 
toise. 

Legend  attributes  to  Ilwang-ti  the  first 
use  of  brick  in  architecture,  building  of 
villages  and  cities,  and  the  establishing  of 
the  people  in  fixed  centers,  about  which  they 
were  commanded  and  taught  to  cultivate 
the  soil;  in  his  time  the  greatest  order  is 
said  to  have  prevailed,  after  he  had   con- 


40     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

quered  the  forces  of  his  predecessor  Shin- 
nung.  Chinese  historians  do  not  lay  much 
stress  upon  this  apparent  rebellion  if  such 
it  was.  Hwang-ti  is  said  to  have  built  an 
observatory  and  to  have  corrected  the  cal- 
endar; to  have  invented  arms,  carts,  boats, 
water-clocks,  chariots,  and  an  ingenious 
musical  instrument.  He  also  introduced 
coined  money  and  fixed  the  standards  of 
weights  and  measures. 

His  Empress  was  likewise  a  remarkable 
personage,  for  legend  attributes  to  her  the 
rearing  of  silk  worms,  reeling  and  spinning 
their  floss,  and  weaving  it  into  material 
which  was  used  for  elegant  robes.  Another 
myth  tells  us  that  Hwang-ti's  son  and  suc- 
cessor, Shan-haou,  saw  a  phoenix  and  ad- 
mired it  so  much  that  he  commanded  all 
officials  to  have  the  effigy  of  that  bird  em- 
broidered on  their  robes  of  state.  This  cus- 
tom survived  until  the  year  1912. 

Myths  innumerable  gather  round  the 
heavenly  bodies.  The  sun,  moon,  and  plan- 
ets were  believed  to  exert  great  influence 
upon  this  earth,  its  inhabitants,  and  all  its 
growth ;  therefore  change  in  the  color  or  gen- 
eral appearance  of  any  one  was  pregnant 
with  meaning.  Any  marked  change  in  the 
appearance  of  the  Sun  presaged  misfortune 
to  the  State  or  its  head;  such  as  revolts, 


near  Canton 


MYTHS  41 

floods,  famines,  or  the  death  of  the  Emperor. 
If  the  Moon  looked  unusually  red  or  seemed 
to  be  too  pale,  there  were  bad  times  ahead 
for  ordinary  men. 

Symbolism  was  inevitably  connected  with 
these  ideas,  and  hence  we  find  that  a  raven 
drawn  within  a  circle  stood  for  the  Sun; 
while  a  rabbit  standing  on  its  hind  legs  and 
grasping  in  its  forepaws  a  long  pestle  with 
which  it  pounded  rice  in  a  mortar  to  clean 
it  of  the  hull  and  coarse  skin,  stood  for  the 
Moon.  But  there  was  another  symbol  for 
Luna  and  that  was  a  three-legged  toad. 
This  myth  came  from  a  legend  of  a  beauty 
of  mythical  times  whose  name  was  Chang- 
ngo.  It  is  said  that  she,  like  so  many  other 
beautiful  women,  was  loath  to  lose  her 
beauty  and  to  pass  away  in  death.  There- 
fore she  procured  from  a  magician  some 
of  "  the  liquor  of  immortality  "  which  she 
drank,  and  was  immediately  carried  up  to 
the  moon,  where  she  was  transformed  into 
a  toad.  The  Chinese  declare  that  the  out- 
line of  the  toad  may  be  traced  on  the  face 
of  the  Moon  when  she  is  at  her  full.  This 
toad — ^  really  the  beauty  for  whom  it  stood 
—  is  specially  worshiped  at  the  time  of  tlie 
full  moon  in  mid-autumn  and  at  that  time 
cakes  of  a  particular  kind  are  sold.  This 
myth    with    many    others   has   been    trans- 


42     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

ferred  to  Japan  where  they  flourish  quite 
as  vigorously  as  ever  they  did  in  the  land 
of  their  origin. 

Every  one  of  the  constellations  has  its 
own  peculiar  symbolism,  and  there  is  an  em- 
peror to  rule  over  all  these  conspicuous 
groups  of  stars.  This  celestial  government 
is  as  completely  organized  as  any  upon 
earth,  with  empresses,  an  heir  apparent,  (al- 
though how  he  succeeds,  since  immortality 
is  one  of  the  attributes  of  those  heavenly 
creatures,  is  not  clear),  subordinate  princes 
and  princesses,  a  court  circle,  tribunals,  etc. 
There  is  one  pretty,  yet  rather  sad,  myth 
connected  with  the  Milky  Way,  that  is  ex- 
ceedingly popular  in  both  China  and  Japan, 
It  is  called  "  The  Herdsman  and  the  Weaver 
Girl." 

The  girl  was  the  daughter  of  the  Sun-god, 
and  she  was  so  remarkably  diligent  with 
her  loom  that  her  father  grew  worried  about 
her.  He  concluded  that  matrimony  would 
divert  her  mind  from  her  incessant  task, 
and  so  he  arranged  a  marriage  with  a  neigh- 
bor who  herded  cattle  on  the  bank  of  "  The 
Silvery  Stream  of  Heaven."  The  story  is 
found  in  many  books,  yet  the  Chinese  and 
the  Japanese  versions  vary  but  little.  Ac- 
cording to  one  version  the  Weaving  Girl  was 
so  constantly  kept  employed  in  making  gar- 
ments for  the  offspring  of  the  Emperor  of 


MYTHS  43 

Heaven  —  in  other  words,  Ood  —  that  she 
had  no  leisure  to  attend  to  the  adornment 
of  her  person.  At  last,  however,  God,  tak- 
ing compassion  on  her  loneliness,  gave  her 
in  marriage  to  the  Herdsman  who  dwelt  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  river.  Then  the 
woman  began  to  grow  remiss  in  her  work. 
The  angry  Emperor  of  Heaven  then  com- 
pelled her  to  re-cross  the  river,  and  at  the 
same  time  he  forbade  her  husband  to  visit 
her  oftener  than  once  a  year.  The  Herds- 
man is  the  bright  star  in  the  constellation 
Aquila.  The  Weaving  Girl  is  the  similar 
star  in  Vega.  They  dwell  on  the  opposite 
sides  of  the  "  Celestial  River,"  or  the  Milky 
Way,  and  they  can  never  meet  except  on  the 
seventh  night  of  the  seventh  moon,  a  night 
which  is  held  sacred  to  them. 

Another  version  represents  the  pair  as 
mortals,  who  were  wedded  at  the  early  ages 
of  fifteen  and  twelve,  and  who  died  at  the 
ages  of  a  hundred  and  three  and  ninety- 
nine  respectively.  After  death,  their  spirits 
flew  up  to  the  sky,  where  the  supreme  Deity 
bathed  daily  in  the  Celestial  River.  No 
mortals  might  pollute  it  by  their  touch,  ex- 
cept on  the  seventh  day  of  the  seventh  moon, 
when  the  Deity,  instead  of  bathing,  went  to 
listen  to  the  chanting  of  the  Buddhist  Scrip- 
tures. The  seventh  moon,  of  course,  re- 
ferred to  the  old  Lunar  Calendar.     That  is 


44     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

to  say,  the  time  when  the  pair  are  reunited 
comes  toward  the  end  of  summer  and  it 
will  be  noticed  that  the  stars  which  repre- 
sent them  are  fairly  close  together  and 
touching,  as  one  may  say,  the  banks  of  the 
Heavenly  stream. 


CHAPTER  IV 

CHINESE  LITERATURE  AND  FOLK-LORE 

IT  will  have  been  inferred  from  what  was 
already  written  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ters, that  the  literature  of  the  Empire,  and 
perhaps  of  a  period  before  that  Empire  was 
organized,  constitutes  a  considerable  legacy 
to  which  the  new  Republic  has  fallen  heir. 
Yet  if  the  educational,  technical,  industrial, 
political,  and  many  other  reforms  are  car- 
ried out,  the  value  of  that  legacy  will  be 
greatly  impaired  if  we  do  not  wish  to  say 
destroyed  altogether. 

Indeed  there  are  not  wanting  some 
Chinese  of  the  "  advanced  thinker "  type 
who  say  frankly  that  when  new  China  has 
actually  gained  the  position  she  deserves 
and  is  once  firmly  planted  on  her  own  feet, 
there  will  be  little  cause  for  regret  were  the 
act  of  Chi  Hwang-ti  ("The  First  Em- 
peror"') repeated  so  far  as  most  of  the  so- 
called  "  Classics  "  are  concerned.  To  un- 
derstand this  allusion,  a  little  bit  of  inter- 
esting history  must  be  introduced  here. 
During  tlie  time  of  tlie  Chou  Dynasty  (1122 
to  2^)T)  r>.  C.)  China  was  in  fact  a  group  of 

45 


46     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

feudal  states  very  loosely  joined  together, 
and  the  "  Emperor  "  was  in  reality  only  the 
head  of  that  state  which,  for  the  time  be- 
ing, was  the  most  powerful  in  martial 
ability. 

In  the  western  section  of  the  relatively 
small  area  then  immediately  connected  with 
the  Chinese  people  was  a  clan,  the  Tsin,  who 
had  long  been  powerful.  They  lived  in 
what  is  now  the  great  province  of  Shensi, 
but  their  authority  extended  northward  into 
Kansuh,  southward  in  Sz-chuan,  perhaps  be- 
yond the  Yang-tze  Eiver,  and  westward  al- 
most indefinitely.  They  occupied  about 
one-fifth  of  the  whole  country  that  could 
then  have  been  looked  upon  as  the  realm  of 
China,  and  the  number  of  the  clansmen 
probably  amounted  to  one-tenth  of  the 
whole  population  of  China. 

One  of  these  Tsin  chiefs  had  the  audacity 
to  make  arrogant  demands  upon  the  impe- 
rial chief  of  tlie  feudal  congerie,  and  backed 
up  his  demands  by  entering  what  may  be 
called  the  Imperial  Domain,  defeating  the 
troops  of  him  wliom  he  should  have  acknowl- 
edged as  his  master.  This  master  was 
Tung-Chau  Kiun,  314  to  255  B.  C,  the  last 
of  the  Chau  Dynasty.  If  we  say  that  a 
"  rebellion "  is  an  unsuccessful  revolt 
against  constituted  national  authority, 
while  revolution  is  the  successful  revolt,  we 


LITERATURE  AND   FOLK-LORE      47 

must  not  speak  of  the  act  of  tliat  audacious 
subject  as  rebellion. 

But  by  whatever  name  we  call  his  act, 
it  is  certain  that  Chausiang  Wang,  255  to 
250  B.  C,  was  successful,  and  made  him- 
self master  of  the  whole  empire,  as  it  was 
then  constituted.  lie  did  not  actually  as- 
sume the  title  of  Emperor,  although  his 
name  appears  in  the  list  of  Chinese  sov- 
ereigns; but  his  son  Chwangsiang  Wang, 
249  to  246  B.  C,  did  so.  All  of  the  blood 
royal  of  the  Chau  Dynasty  who  could  be 
found,  whether  adult  or  child,  male  or  fe- 
male, were  butchered  by  Chwangsiang's 
troops  most  ruthlessly;  and  the  process  of 
subduing  all  the  rest  of  the  states  in  the 
congerie  was  carried  on  effectively,  until 
he  was  supreme. 

He  then  took  for  himself  the  title  of  Chi 
Hwangti,  and  established  a  dynasty  which 
he  called  the  Tsin.  It  is  likewise  known  as 
the  Ch'in,  and  some  writers  declare  that 
from  this  word  came  the  name  China. 
This  is  because  the  first  people  of  the  West 
who  knew  anything  about  the  Chinese, 
spoke  of  them  —  we  are  told  —  as  "  people 
of  tlio  land  of  Ch'in."  It  is  not  difficult 
to  believe  that  this  word  would  readily  be- 
come "  Cliina.''  As  the  Italians  say,  se  non 
('  vera,  c  hoi  trovato,  or  "  if  it  is  not  true  it 
is  cleverlv  invented." 


48     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

This  monarch,  who  has  been  called  the 
Napoleon  of  China  (although  to  the  minds 
of  many  that  is  a  distinction  which  cuts 
two  ways ! )  was  really  a  remarkable  man  in 
many  ways,  and  that  the  people  generally 
looked  upon  him  as  such  is  evident  from  the 
fact  that  later  generations  took  pride  in 
calling  themselves  "  Men  of  Tsin."  But 
there  were,  and  there  are,  good  Chinese  who 
execrate  his  name  because  he  presumed  to 
arrogate  to  himself  an  equality  w^ith  the 
three  great  Emperors  of  the  Mythical 
Period,  Fuh-hi,  Shin-nung,  and  Hwang-ti, 
to  w^hom  are  assigned  the  years  from  2852 
to  2597  B.  C. 

Chi  Hwangti  was  certainly  a  vain  man. 
His  vanity,  stimulated  by  the  advice  of  his 
Prime  Minister,  Li-szu,  made  him  wish  to 
destroy  all  records  of  every  kind  that  had 
been  written  prior  to  his  own  time.  By  do- 
ing this  he  hoped  to  compel  posterity  to 
regard  himself  as  the  very  first  Emperor  of 
the  Chinese  people.  The  Prime  Minister 
had  reported  to  his  master  that  the  influence 
of  the  scholars  was  pernicious  and  their 
writings  merely  contributed  to  cause  con- 
fusion. Hwang-ti's  special  animosity  was 
directed  against  the  writings  of  Confucius 
and  Mencius,  explanatory  of  the  Shu-king, 
which  will  be  described  presently,  because 
that  work  dealt  with  the  feudal  states  of 


LITERATURE   AND    FOLK-LORE      49 

China,  whose  remembrance  the  new  "  First 
Emperor,"  wished  to  blot  out  absolutely. 

But  the  real  reason  for  the  unpopularity 
of  the  literati  was  that  they  constituted  the 
conservative  element  of  the  populace  and 
were  always  ready  to  oppose  all  efforts  at  re- 
form which  the  Emperor  might  wish  to  in- 
stitute. In  this  aspect  of  the  literary  class, 
history  repeated  itself  very  emphatically  in 
the  twentieth  century,  for  it  was  the  lit- 
erary men  and  the  Manchus  who  tried  to 
thwart  the  efforts  of  the  late  Emperor 
Kwang  rtsii  and  those  of  his  aunt,  the  great 
Empress  Dowager,  when  they  were  tr^^ing 
to  make  China  a  factor  in  the  world's  af- 
fairs. It  will  now  be  understood  what  is 
meant  by  saying  that  some  of  the  most  radi- 
cal of  the  Chinese  progressives  think  it 
would  do  little  or  no  harm  to  repeat  Hwang- 
ti's  destruction  of  the  "  Classical  Litera- 
ture." 

My  introduction  to  Chinese  literature  was 
through  the  reading  by  my  teacher  of  ^an 
kiio  chill  yen  i,  and  his  explanation  thereof. 
This  is  an  historical  novel  based  upon  the 
wars  of  the  Three  Kingdoms.  When  tlie 
Ilan  D^masty  was  overthrown,  A.  D.  190, 
there  was  the  greatest  confusion  throughout 
the  whole  of  China,  and  because  of  the 
many  important  characters  who  appeared 
upon  the  stage  of  the  national  play-house, 


50     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

it  was  a  period  of  great  interest  and  the  ac- 
count of  the  wars  between  the  three  rival, 
petty  kingdoms;  first  Wei,  in  the  central 
and  northern  provinces  with  their  capital 
city  Lo-Yang  in  Honan  province;  second 
Wu,  which  included  some  of  the  provinces 
south  of  the  Yang-tze  Eiver,  its  capital 
Nangking;  and  third  Shu,  which  included 
most  of  the  western  part  of  the  country,  par- 
ticularly the  great  Sz-chuan  province,  with 
its  capital  city  Cheng-tu. 

I  have  always  said  that  the  true  Chinese 
people  are  not  warlike  or  naturally  blood- 
thirsty, and  I  am  as  firmly  convinced  as 
ever  of  those  facts.  Yet  it  is  astonishing 
what  a  hold  tliis  San  kiio  chih  yen  i  has  upon 
them.  It  tells  of  the  distractions  of  that 
period,  of  the  clash  of  armies  in  fierce  bat- 
tle; of  the  cunning  plans  laid  by  skilful 
generals  to  deceive  their  rivals,  and  to  gain 
victory  when  it  was  not  always  true  that  the 
Lord  is  on  the  side  of  the  largest  legions. 

As  an  illustration  of  these  cunning 
tricks,  there  is  a  story  told  that  one  admiral, 
whose  supply  of  arrows  was  nearly  ex- 
hausted, had  a  number  of  dummy  sailors 
made  by  stuffing  clothes  with  hay.  Then 
lie  bore  down  towards  the  enemy  and  gave  all 
indications  of  attack.  The  opposing  ad- 
miral at  once  ordered  his  men  to  send  a 
shower  of  arrows  against  the  approaching 


LITERATURE   AND    FOLK-LORE      51 

enemy,  being  deceived  by  the  appearance 
of  the  dummies  into  supposing  that  he  was 
slaughtering  the  soldiers  of  his  enemy. 
When  the  attacking,  wily  admiral  thought 
that  he  had  sufficiently^  replenished  his  sup- 
ply of  arrows,  he  drew  off  and  then  made 
preparation  for  a  serious  attack,  which  was 
entirely  successful. 

This  same  book  bristles  with  accounts  of 
the  valorous  deeds  of  individuals  that  sim- 
ply pass  beyond  our  ability  to  comprehend. 
There  are  so  many  of  them  that  they  become 
almost  commonplace.  I  have  already  given 
one  of  these  tales  and  there  are  plenty  more 
for  those  who  care  to  read.  It  is  entirely 
true  as  Dr.  Ilerbert  A.  Giles  says :  "  If  a 
vote  were  taken  among  the  people  of  China, 
as  to  the  greatest  among  their  countless 
novels,  the  Story  of  the  Three  Kingdoms 
would  indubitably  come  out  first," 

I  had  worked  hard  at  the  Chinese  lan- 
guage for  eight  or  nine  months,  when  I 
suddenh'  found  myself  thinking  and  even 
dreaming  in  the  Swatow  vernacular.  Then 
my  teacher  said  I  was  ready  to  hear  the  ^am 
kol-u,  as  he  called  the  title  of  tlie  novel, 
lie  read  it  to  me,  but  he  put  it  into  tlie 
simple  local  dialect  which  I  was  able  to 
understand,  and  I  really  did  find  myself  en- 
joying tlie  book. 

Manv   centuries  before  the  1)e<j,imiiiig  of 


52     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

our  era,  the  citizens  of  the  ancient  feudal 
states  of  China  enjoyed  a  considerable  meas- 
ure of  physical  civilization.  When  they 
were  not  at  war  amongst  themselves,  there 
was  a  reasonable  security  for  life  and  prop- 
erty. The  people  lived  in  fairly  good 
houses,  they  were  dressed  in  silk  or  robes 
made  from  homespun  cotton  or  other  fibers ; 
they  carried  umbrellas  both  against  the  sun 
and  the  rain;  they  sat  on  chairs  and  at 
tables  around  which  they  gathered  for  meals 
or  other  purposes;  they  rode  in  carts  or 
chariots;  they  traveled  extensively  in  boats 
along  the  rivers  and  connecting  canals; 
they  ate  their  food  off  plates  and  dishes  of 
pottery  which  were  perhaps  coarse,  yet  they 
were  certainly  superior  to  the  wooden 
trenchers  that  were  common  in  Europe  un- 
til a  surprisingly  short  time  ago. 

"They  measured  time  by  the  sundial,  and 
in  the  Golden  Age  they  had  two  famous 
calendar  trees,  representations  of  which 
have  come  down  to  us  in  sculpture,  dating 
from  about  A.  D.  150.  One  of  tliese  trees 
put  forth  a  leaf  every  day  for  fifteen  days, 
after  which  a  leaf  fell  off  daily  for  fifteen 
more  days.  The  other  put  forth  a  leaf  once 
a  month  for  half  a  year,  after  which  a  leaf 
fell  off  monthly  for  a  similar  period.  With 
these  trees  growing  in  the  court  yard,  it 
was  possible  to  say  at  a  glance  what  was  the 


LITERATURE   ANC    FOLK-LORE      53 

day  of  the  month,  and  what  was  the  month 
of  the  year.  But  civilization  proved  un- 
favorable to  their  growth,  and  the  species 
became  extinct."  * 

In  the  sixth  century  before  Christ  the 
Chinese  had  a  written  language,  fully  com- 
petent to  express  the  most  varied  forms  of 
human  thought.  It  was  almost  identical 
with  the  present  ideographs,  if  we  make 
reasonable  allowance  for  certain  modifica- 
tions of  forms  which  have  been  brought 
about  by  the  use  of  paper  and  the  paint- 
brush pen  that  have  been  used  for  so  long, 
instead  of  the  thin  bamboo  tablets  and  the 
sharp  stylus  of  old  times. 

Confucius  was  born,  it  is  generally 
agreed,  in  the  year  551  B.  C.  He  may  be 
regarded  as  the  founder  of  Chinese  litera- 
ture. Whether  there  had  been  before  him 
anything  that  we  may  properly  call  general 
literature,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  But  ap- 
parently the  main  use  to  which  writing  had 
been  put  was  to  keep  the  records  of  the  im- 
perial court  and  to  note  the  doings  of  the 
dynasty. 

Confucius  gathered  together  whatever 
of  literary  fragments  he  could  find,  and 
thc^se  he  compiled  and  edited  in  tlie  ^hu 
Chlng,  "  The  Book  of  History."'  (Williams 
calls  tliis  SJiic  King,  "Book  of  Eecords.") 

*  Giles,  ITcrltort  A.,  A  History  of  Chinese  Literature. 


54     ouK  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

Tliere  were  originally,  it  is  said,  one  hun- 
dred of  tlie  documents  comprising  this 
work,  and  they  covered  a  wide  range  of 
time  from  the  twenty-fourth  to  the  eighth 
century  before  Christ.  The  first  two  of 
these  documents  refer  to  Emperors  Yao  and 
Shun,  who  reigned  from  2357  to  2205  B.  C, 
during  what  Cliinese  antiquarians  regard 
as  the  Golden  Age  of  their  country.  Yao 
"  united  the  various  parts  of  his  domain  in 
the  bonds  of  peace,  so  that  concord  reigned 
among  the  black-haired  people."  In  this 
Book  of  History  there  are  some  poems  that 
admit  of  very  close  rendering  in  Engli.sh, 
for  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  in  directness  of 
expression  and  in  the  arrangement  accord- 
ing to  the  rules  of  syntax,  the  English  sen- 
tence is  very  like  the  Chinese. 

We  are  likewise  indebted  to  Confucius 
for  the  preservation  of  what  is  considered 
tlie  next  most  ancient  work  in  Chinese  lit- 
erature. It  is  the  Shih  Ching  or  "  Book  of 
Odes."  (Williams  calls  it  SJii  King.)  It 
is  a  collection  of  rhymed  ballads  in  various 
meters,  usually  four  words  to  the  line,  and 
showing  a  curious  balance  between  the 
main  word  of  one  line  and  that  of  the  com- 
plementary line.  The  poems  were  com- 
posed at  various  times  between  the  reign  of 
Emperor  Yu,  distinguished  by  being  called 


LITERATURE  AND   FOLK-LORE      55 

"The  Great"  (2208  to  2197  B.  C.)  There 
are  now  three  hundred  and  five  of  the  bal- 
lads, and  therefore  the  collection  is  called 
"The  Three  Hundred."  It  is  said  that 
Confucius  made  his  selection  from  some- 
thing like  three  thousand  pieces  that  he 
gathered  together  from  all  parts  of  the 
country  during  his  wanderings.  They  are 
all  very  didactic,  and  each  is  considered  to 
hold  a  hidden  meaning  or  to  point  some 
moral.     This  is  an  admirable  illustration : 


Don't  come  in,  sir,  please! 

Don't  break  my  willow-trees! 

Not  that  that  would  very  much  grieve  me; 

But  alack-a-day!  what  would  my  parents  say? 

And  love  you  as  I  may, 

I  cannot  bear  to  think  what  that  would  be. 


In  this,  commentators  discover  a  hidden 
historical  meaning;  that  a  feudal  chief 
wliose  brother  had  been  attempting  his  over- 
throw, being  loath  to  punish  that  brother, 
finds  excuse  for  not  doing  so. 

It  is  declared  that  Confucius  himself  at- 
taclied  so  much  importance  to  those  ballads, 
that  wlien  liis  own  son  answered  negatively 
to  the  question  "  Rave  you  learned  the 
Odes?  "  the  sage  declared,  witli  much  heat, 
that  until  lie  had  done  so,  tlie  young  man 
would  not  be  fit  to  associate  with  intelligent 


56     ouE  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

men.  These  odes  possess  great  value  for 
the  student  of  ethnology,  and  particularly 
give  interesting  information  as  to  manners 
and  customs  of  the  Chinese  people  before 
the  time  of  the  great  Confucius. 

Perhaps  the  oldest  book  of  all,  and  the 
most  important  one  of  the  pre-Confucian 
works,  is  the  I  Ghing  or  "  The  Book  of 
Changes"  (the  Yih  King  of  Williams).  It 
is  credited  to  Wen  Wang,  who  was  virtually 
the  founder  of  the  Chou  Dynasty.  His  son, 
Wu  Wang,  became  the  first  sovereign  of  the 
dynasty  which  held  the  throne  from  1122 
to  255  B.  C.  The  importance  of  this  book, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  Chinese  students  of  for- 
mer times,  was  the  fanciful  system  of  phi- 
losophy deduced  from  the  eight  trigrams, 
which  have  been  already  mentioned,  in  con- 
nection with  Fuh-hi.  For  an  illustration 
of  the  reading  of  these  trigrams  and  the  ex- 
panded diagrams  based  upon  them  the 
reader  is  referred  to  Dr.  Legge's  works,  or 
Giles'  Chinese  Literature. 

The  Li  Chi,  "  The  Book  of  Eites  "  (Wil- 
liams' Li  Ki),  and  the  older  work  Chow  Li, 
"  The  Rules  of  the  Chou  Dynasty  "  are  al- 
ways coupled  together,  forming  one  of  the 
Six  Classics,  recognized  in  ancient  times. 
Their  names  indicate  sufficiently  what  they 
are.     The  last  of  the  great  Five  Classics,  as 


LITERATURE  AND   FOLK-LORE       57 

the  ancient  literature  came  to  be  consti- 
tuted, is  the  Ch'un  ChHu,  or  "  The  Spring 
and  Autumn  Annals"  (Williams'  Chun 
Tsiu).  It  is  merely  a  chronological  record 
of  the  chief  events  in  the  State  of  Lu,  where 
Confucius  was  born.  It  covers  the  years 
from  722  to  484  B.  C,  and  is  generally  re- 
garded as  the  only  one  of  the  Classics  which 
may  properly  be  attributed  to  Confucius 
himself. 

The  great  mass  of  Chinese  literature  con- 
sists of  commentaries  upon  the  Classics, 
explanations  of  obscure  passages,  and 
varying  readings.  I  do  not  mean  to  say 
that  during  the  2500  years,  during  which 
the  Chinese  have  possessed  the  art  of  writ- 
ing, there  has  been  nothing  of  a  general 
nature  added  to  their  literature.  On  the 
contrary  the  collection  is  something  enor- 
mous ;  and  there  is  not  space  sufficient  even 
to  notice  it  briefly.  Some  of  it  will  live ; 
but  much  of  it  will  disappear  as  the  Chinese 
mind  turns  toward  the  practical  affairs  of 
life  as  they  are  to  be  determined  hereafter. 

There  are  many  volumes  of  most  inter- 
esting Chinese  folk-lore  tales  that  have  been 
translated  into  English  by  competent 
scholars.  I  have  space  for  just  one  and 
that  I  have  selected  almost  as  much  for  its 
brevity  as  anything  else.     Yet  the  theme, 


58     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

conjugal  fidelity,  is  one  that  is  very  dear 
to  the  Chinese. 

The  Faithful  Gander 

A  sportsman  of  Tientsin,  having  snared 
a  wild  goose,  was  followed  to  his  home  by 
the  gander,  which  flew  round  and  round 
him  in  great  distress,  and  w^ent  away  only 
at  nightfall.  The  next  day,  when  the 
sportsman  went  out,  there  was  the  bird 
again ;  and  at  length  it  alighted  quite  close 
to  his  feet.  He  was  on  the  point  of  seizing 
it,  when  suddenly  it  stretched  out  its  neck 
and  disgorged  a  piece  of  pure  gold;  where- 
upon the  sportsman,  understanding  what 
the  bird  meant,  cried  out :  "  I  see !  this  is  to 
ransom  your  mate,  eh?"  Accordingly,  he 
at  once  released  the  goose,  and  the  two 
birds  flew  away  with  many  expressions  of 
their  mutual  joy,  leaving  to  the  sportsman 
nearly  three  ounces  of  pure  gold.  Can, 
then,  mere  birds  have  such  feelings  as  these? 
Of  all  sorrows  there  is  no  sorrow  like 
separation  from  those  we  love ;  and  it  seems 
that  the  same  principle  holds  good  even  of 
dumb  animals. 


CHAPTER  V 

EDUCATION:  FORMER  AND  MODERN 

WHILE  I  was  making  my  first  lengtliy 
stay  in  China,  the  Rev.  Justus  Doo- 
little  was  putting  through  the  press  his 
interesting  book,  "  Social  Life  of  the  Chi- 
nese." It  was  a  valuable  work  in  many 
ways  and  this  fact  is  made  clear  by  the 
reference  to  it  made  in  the  later  editions 
of  Dr.  Williams'  more  famous  "  The  Middle 
Kingdom.''  Doolittle  wrote  truthfully  at 
the  time  that  a  great  obstacle  to  the  speedy 
conversion  of  the  Chinese,  was  their  syste- 
matized, superstitious,  and  idolatrous  edu- 
cation. The  child  and  the  youth  were  all 
then  taught  to  believe  in  the  constant 
presence  and  powerful  influence  of  number- 
less gods  and  goddesses  for  good  or  evil. 
He  wrote :  "  For  instance :  from  the  time 
of  birth  till  sixteen  years  of  age,  boy  and 
girl  are  taught  to  believe  that  they  are 
under  the  special  protection  of  a  female  de- 
ity fancifully  called  '  Mother/  During  this 
period  various  superstitious  and  idola- 
trous acts  are  very  frequently  performed 
before  her  image  or  representative,  either 
as  thanksgivings  for  favors  believed  to  have 

59 


60     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

been  received  from  her  by  them,  or  as  meri- 
torious acts  in  order  to  propitiate  her  kind 
offices  to  preserve  them  in  health  or  to  cure 
from  sickness.  When  sixteen  years  old,  a 
singular  ceremony  is  performed,  whereby  it 
is  indicated  that  they  then  pass  out  of  the 
special  protection  of  '  Mother,'  and  come 
under  the  care  and  control  of  gods  and  god- 
desses in  general."  This  writer's  observa- 
tions were  made  mainly  at  Foochow.  Only 
about  two  hundred  miles  down  the  coast, 
at  Swatow,  I  was  trying  to  learn  the  Chi- 
nese language  from  a  middle-aged  man  who 
was  in  the  lowest  rank  of  the  literati.  He 
had  passed  the  first  examination  for  the 
Civil  Service,  which  was  held  at  the  fn 
capital,  Tiechiu  (Chowchow)  and  had  been 
told  that  his  papers  were  of  a  very  high 
grade  of  excellence.  Naturally  he  expected 
that  the  next  examination,  held  at  the  pro- 
vincial capital.  Canton,  would  be  equally 
successful ;  but  to  his  amazement,  he  was 
"  plucked,"  and  tliis  happened  several  times. 
"Why?"  he  asked;  and  most  of  his  native 
friends  were  prompt  with  their  answer: 
"  Because  you  are  a  Christian !  "  It  was 
true.  Liu  ITsiu  Tsai  had  given  up  the  wor- 
ship of  idols  and  tlie  gods  and  goddesses  of 
China  and  had  embraced  Christianity,  In 
the  early  sixties  of  last  century,  that  was 


EDUCATION  61 

fatal  for  any  Chinese  who  hoped  to  become 
a  mandarin. 

What  a  contrast  there  is  between  condi- 
tions of  fifty  years  ago,  and  the  fact  that 
recently  the  government  of  the  Chinese  Re- 
public officially  asked  Christian  people  all 
the  world  over  to  pray  that  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  Chinese  legislators  might  be 
guided  by  divine  wisdom:  the  wisdom  of 
the  Christian's  one  Supreme  God.  The  con- 
trast has  just  been  emphasized  by  the  fact 
that  the  Chinese  Government  has  notified 
entire  freedom  for  religious  belief. 

Possibly  that  appeal  to  the  world-wide 
Christians  was,  as  cynics  declared,  a  clever 
piece  of  diplomacy.  The  very  fact  that 
such  a  thing  could  have  happened  from  any 
motive  w^hatever,  shows  that  the  line  which 
now  divides  the  Chinese  Republic  from  the 
past  history  of  the  great  Chinese  Empire, 
is  a  broad  one  indeed.  The  simile  I  have 
just  used  is  not  apt.  That  whicli  divides 
the  Republic  from  the  Empire  is  not  a  line, 
it  is  a  chasm ;  already  so  wide  that  it  can 
never  be  bridged,  and  will  be  ever  widening. 
In  nothing  is  the  gap  so  tremendous  as  be- 
tween the  old  methods  of  education  and  the 
ways  the  young  are  now  taught  and  will 
be  hereafter. 

In   the   religious   communities  of  former 


62     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

times,  Buddhist  and  Taoist,  there  were  al- 
ways provisions  made  for  teaching  boys 
who  contemplated  the  priesthood,  how  to 
read  and  write  a  little,  and  sometimes  this 
was  done  even  when  the  lads  did  not  intend 
to  become  priests.  But  there  was  precious 
little  education  about  that  teaching.  If  I 
were  to  teach  my  boy  the  letters  of  the 
Greek  alphabet  so  that  he  could  read  every 
page  of  the  Hellenic  authors,  I  should  have 
very  little  right  to  say  he  understood  what 
he  read,  if  I  stopped  there.  So  with  the 
Buddhist  siitras  and  the  Taoist  texts. 
Many  priests  could  read  the  former,  even 
when  they  were  written  in  Sanskrit,  many 
more  could  read  both,  if  in  Chinese ;  but  not 
one  in  a  hundred  knew  the  meaning  of  that 
which  he  was  reading. 

There  was  no  such  thing  as  a  public 
school  in  Old  China,  now  and  then  some 
specially  good  prefect  or  local  official  would 
hire  a  young  literary  man,  who  had  not  re- 
ceived a  government  appointment,  to  teach  a 
class  of  boys  at  the  official  residence,  yainenj 
but  admission  was  always  a  matter  of  rank 
and  favoritism,  and  the  instruction  was 
never  anything  practical :  it  was  simply  to 
cram  the  boys'  heads  with  the  Five  Classics 
and  the  commentaries  thereon  by  Confucius, 
Mencius,  and  a  thousand  others  whose  one 
delight  it  was  to  split  hairs ! 


EDUCATION  63 

Our  quaiTel  with  the  old  time  and  for- 
mer education  of  China  is  one  of  character, 
rather  than  of  scope.  Many  people  tell  us 
that  prls  and  women  were  absolutely  ne- 
glected in  this  matter,  but  I  think  this  is 
somewhat  of  a  mistake.  There  was  noth- 
ing so  general  in  the  education  of  girls  as 
there  was  amongst  the  boys  whose  fathers 
were  able  to  afford  to  send  them  to  school. 
For  every  village  had  its  private  school. 

In  one  of  my  earliest  walks  —  it  was  the 
first  Sunday  after  I  settled  down  at  Swatow 
and  there  was  no  church  service  that  I 
could  attend  —  I  passed  near  a  small  vil- 
lage. I  heard  a  terrific  noise  of  boys' 
voices,  of  that  I  was  sure;  yet  they  did  not 
seem  to  be  quarreling.  Before  I  could  put 
my  question  into  words,  my  companion,  who 
spoke  Chinese  well,  answered  the  question 
that  was  clearly  in  my  face  and  said: 
"  That  is  a  school !  "  "  Ah,  it  is  recess  time, 
I  suppose,  and  the  lads  are  playing." 
"  Not  at  all,"  was  the  laughing  response, 
"  they  are  studying  their  lessons  diligently." 

Afterwards  I  had  a  chance  to  visit  a  na- 
tive school  for  boys,  and  I  saw  the  lads 
sitting  on  the  floor  mats,  or  on  rough  forms. 
Eacli  one  was  shouting  out  his  lesson  at  the 
top  of  his  voice,  to  convince  the  teacher  tliat 
he  was  lionestly  working  hard.  In  front  of 
the  master's  desk,  back  towards  the  teacher. 


64       OUE  NEIGHBOES:     THE   CHINESE 

stood  one  boy  wlio  was  reciting  his  lesson. 
The  lessons  were  always  the  same;  a  vol- 
ume or  two,  or  perhaps  a  page  from  the 
idolized  Classics  —  long  or  short  according 
to  the  attainments  of  the  boy  and  his  indi- 
vidual capacity  —  and  they  were  merely 
learned  by  rote.  There  was  no  explanation 
of  the  meaning  of  the  hundreds  of  charac- 
ters the  boy  memorized.  Years  afterwards 
that  would  come.  The  boy  was  not  even 
learning  to  read,  because  it  was  possible 
that  the  context  might  cause  the  sound  or 
intonation  of  a  particular  ideograph  to 
vary  a  little  and  thus  completely  alter  the 
meaning  of  the  sentence. 

Yet  the  rudimentary  education  was  to 
continue  for  ten  years  or  more;  then  would 
come  from  five  to  ten  years  of  lectures  on 
the  same  Classics,  with  explanation  of  the 
texts  themselves,  and  commentaries  in  Chi- 
nese. By  the  time  the  young  man  was  from 
twenty  to  twenty-five  years  of  age,  although 
there  was  no  age  limit,  he  would  be  ready  to 
take  his  first  competitive  examination;  and 
if  successful,  to  mount  the  first  rung  of  the 
ladder  that  might  lead  to  the  liighest  honors 
in  the  land. 

It  was  a  very  beautiful  and  thoroughly 
democratic  system  in  principle;  l)ut  every 
one  knew  that  when  tlie  time  came  for  the 
"  Budding  Genius  "  to  enter  the  examina- 


EDUCATION  65 

tion  liall  from  whence  this  "  genius  "  might 
emerge  as  one  "  Keady  for  Office,"  his 
chances  would  be  much  improved  if  some- 
body's palm  were  comfortably  greased. 
Nominally  the  papers  were  supposed  to  be 
absolutely  anonymous.  Yet  there  were 
hundreds  of  cases,  where  the  examiners' 
particular  friends  passed  brilliantly  —  even 
when  they  were  known  to  be  stupid  —  while 
hard-working  and  bright  students  were 
thrown  out. 

I  know  it  is  said  that  girls  were  terribly 
neglected  in  educational  matters  in  China 
until  a  very  few  years  ago;  yet  the  records 
of  the  country  show  that  a  great  many 
women  and  from  all  walks  of  life,  were  fam- 
ous for  their  poems,  epigrams,  and  other 
forms  of  composition.  The  education  which 
was  given  to  the  women  of  China  in  former 
times,  was  nothing  comparable  with  what 
they  are  able  to  get  nowadays,  yet  it  fitted 
them  to  be  of  some  assistance  to  their  hus- 
bands; and  it  is  pleasing  to  note  in  Chinese 
literature  that  a  just  appreciation  of  this 
assistance  is  often  given. 

In  1834  the  Rev.  Cliarles  Cxutzlaff,  when 
commenting  upon  the  narrow  scope  of 
Chinese  education,  said  that  there  was  prac- 
tically no  such  thing  as  an  original  writer, 
and  that  there  had  not  been  any  of  these 
for  centuries.     Some   of  the  essays  which 


66     OUE  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

the  successful  candidates  at  the  literary  ex- 
aminations had  sent  in,  had  been  printed 
and  those  were  the  nearest  approach  to 
what  may  be  called  new  publications.  Yet 
it  would  have  been  a  mistake  to  call  them 
"  new  "  in  material  or  in  treatment,  for  they 
contained  nothing  but  what  millions  of 
similar  scholars  had  written  in  precisely 
the  same  circumstances  for  many  centuries. 

Still,  it  was  for  ability  to  write  these 
classical  essays  that  officials  were  appointed 
to  command  armies  and  ships  of  war,  with- 
out having  received  any  more  professional 
education  than  training  in  the  use  of  the 
bow  and  perhaps  how  to  ride  a  horse. 

What  a  change  has  come  over  China  with- 
in little  more  than  ten  years.  The  premoni- 
tory symptoms  of  that  change  were  to  be 
noticed  a  few  years  before  the  close  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  Indeed,  it  may  truth- 
fully be  said  that  the  most  important  lesson 
which  the  war  between  China  and  Japan  in 
1894  and  1895  tauglit  the  former,  was  that 
a  radical  change  must  be  made  in  every  way, 
if  China  was  not  to  be  destroyed  completely, 
or  at  any  rate  put  into  a  position  of  subor- 
dination to  her  former  pupil  and  imitator, 
Japan.  The  lesson  was  taken  to  heart  by 
some  —  only  a  few  at  first  —  but  that  les- 
son was  confirmed  and  its  teachinrjrs  were 


EDUCATION  67 

firmly  driven  home  by  the  result  of  the 
Eusso-Japanese  war. 

Whether  Japan  was  absolutely  victorious 
in  that  enterprise  or  not,  does  not  matter; 
her  temerity  in  facing  such  a  foe,  her 
prowess  in  the  field,  and  the  seeming  suc- 
cess, inspired  the  Chinese  officials  and  the 
people  of  the  eastern  provinces  most  tre- 
mendously. Then  was  the  beginning  of  the 
new  movement,  which  eventually  culminated 
in  the  birth  of  the  Republic  of  China. 

In  two  years  time,  there  has  been  accom- 
plished in  China  that  which  the  broadest- 
minded  native  of  that  country  fifty  years 
ago  would  have  declared  impossible.  The 
old  time  examinations  were  done  away  with 
forever,  and  instead  of  meaningless  exposi- 
tions of  what  the  sages  in  dim  antiquity 
had  said,  and  what  later  scholars  had  done 
to  expound  the  sages'  teachings;  the  candi- 
dates were  called  upon  to  write  theses  on 
subjects  which  might  easily  have  been  taken 
from  the  examination  papers  prepared  by 
a  professor  in  one  of  our  own  institutions 
of  learning. 

Education  is  no  longer  a  matter  of  hap- 
hazard that  was  left  to  the  incompetent  ped- 
agogue in  village  or  town ;  and  at  the  best 
that  which  was  supplied  by  some  hind- 
hearted      official.     The      jroverument      has 


68     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

taken  charge  of  general  education,  and  the 
Minister  of  Public  Instruction  is  a  man 
who  conceives  his  duty  to  be  to  give  the 
Chinese  people,  irrespective  of  sex  or  posi- 
tion, as  nearly  the  same  advantages  as  the 
West  offers,  due  consideration  being  had 
to  all  the  circumstances. 

From  kindergartens  to  post-graduate 
courses  at  the  Peking  University,  the 
scheme  of  education  is  as  comprehensive  as 
possible.  It  is  the  desire  of  the  foremost 
men  in  the  Republic,  to  have  at  least  one 
university  in  each  of  the  eigliteen  provinces 
of  China  proper.  In  the  outlying  possess- 
ions, the  highest  grades  of  educational  in- 
stitutions are  to  be  provided  as  circum- 
stances permit  and  the  demand  therefor 
seems  urgent.  At  the  other  end  of  the  scale 
there  is  to  be  common  school  education 
provided  for  children  and  youths  every- 
where. 

There  shall  never  again  be  any  reason 
to  say  that  the  girls  of  China  are  at  a  dis- 
advantage when  contrasted  with  their 
brothers.  Technical  education  is  to  be 
given  as  conspicuous  a  place  as  means  per- 
mit. In  this  phase  of  education  a  great 
deal  remains  to  be  done;  but  seemingly 
there  is  no  need  for  telling  such  men  as  Dr. 
Sun  Yat-sen  and  tens  of  thousands  who  are 
like  him  in  kind  if  they  do  differ  more  or 


EDUCATION  69 

less  in  degree,  that  it  is  in  this  technical 
education  rather  than  in  the  purely  literary 
field  the  fateful  future  of  China  lies. 

Many  j-ears  ago,  the  younger  attaches  of 
the  Chinese  Legation  at  Washington  were, 
very  plain-spoken  in  saying  that  their  own 
people  must  liave  the  control  in  building, 
equipping,  maintaining,  and  operating  the 
railways  of  China.  Circumstances  have 
made  it  impossible  for  them  to  attain  their 
desire  fully ;  and  probably  it  is  well  —  so 
long  as  the  money  for  railways  and  so  many 
other  enterprises  must  come  from  abroad 
—  that  those  who  supply  the  pecuniary 
means  sliould  have  the  controlling  voice  in 
its  expenditure.  Yet  in  1885  I  knew  some 
young  Chinese  engineers  who  were  as  com- 
petent to  survey  and  build  a  railway  as  is 
any  graduate  of  the  best  technical  school  in 
the  United  States. 

Their  weak  point  still  is  their  inability 
to  control  properly  the  operating  expenses; 
social  lines  are  so  curiously  drawn  in  China 
tliat  even  under  the  new  rule,  it  is  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  make  a  subordinate  under- 
stand that  he  must  obey  tlie  man  wlio  is 
above  him,  and  who  may  possibly  come  of  a 
family  that  tlie  subordinate  knows  to  have 
a  much  more  diminutive  ancestral  tree  than 
his  own. 

This  seeminglv  anomalous  state  of  affairs 


70     ouE  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

is  just  one  of  the  proofs  that  there  has  al- 
ways been  a  strong  strain  of  democracy  in 
the  Chinese  race.  They  seemed  to  stand 
in  abject  terror  of  a  mandarin.  As  his  lord- 
ship passed  through  the  streets  of  the  town, 
his  lictors  used  their  whips  and  brushes  to 
clear  a  way,  and  the  populace  fell  back,  or 
went  down  on  their  knees  in  the  dust,  as 
though  a  vicegerent  of  the  eternal  gods  was 
appearing  to  them.  But  when  the  time 
came  to  obey  the  mandate  of  his  lordship, 
and  do  something  which  infringed  upon  a 
community  right,  there  was  none  of  that 
seeming  servility.  The  same  spirit  until  it 
has  been  properly  controlled  is  going  to  be 
an  awkward  obstacle  in  the  pathway  of 
material  development. 

The  very  fact  of  the  Protestant  Christian 
missionaries  finding  in  the  outset  of  their 
enterprise,  that  the  key  which  most  prompt- 
ly and  effectively  opened  the  doors  of  the 
Chinese,  was  that  which  was  held  in  the 
hand  of  the  missionary  physician,  is  going 
to  continue  to  be  a  valuable  asset.  The 
Chinese  people  themselves  declare  that  such 
physicians  did  more  at  first  than  the  evan- 
gelists; and  I  do  not  believe  that  any  con- 
scientious missionary  will  be  angry  if  I  say 
that  their  influence  in  a  comparative  degree 
has  been  abiding. 

It  was  the  western  physician  wlio  began 


EDUCATION  71 

a  work  that  is  now  being  taken  up  by  all 
classes  in  China.  Medical  schools,  hospi- 
tals, infirmaries,  maternity  and  nursing 
homes,  all  forms  of  this  glorious  healing  art, 
are  being  established  as  rapidly  as  possible, 
and  the  Ohinese  themselves  are  displaying 
a  willingness  to  put  away  the  abominable 
methods  of  their  old-time  "Doctors"  (the 
pen  almost  refuses  to  write  the  word)  and 
put  themselves  into  the  hands  of  the  modern 
practitioner,  be  the  doctor  a  native  or  a 
foreigner,  and  —  most  wonderful  of  all  — 
whether  the  doctor  be  a  man  or  a  woman ! 

Could  the  spirit  of  Confucius  walk 
through  eastern  China  to-day  and  see  equal- 
ity in  all  educational  matters  as  well  as  in 
the  professions  for  women,  girls,  men,  and 
boys:  could  it  know  that  modern  surgery 
is  practised  and  even  taught  by  the  Chinese 
themselves,  what  would  happen?  Because 
it  was  but  a  short  time  ago  that  amputation 
and  all  kindred  surgery  were  considered 
absolutely  impious. 


CHAPTER  VI 

HOME  AND  FAMILY  LIFE 

THE  "  Home "  must  have  its  basis  in 
marriage,  and  to  that  important  epi- 
sode in  human  life  attention  is  to  be  given 
first.  Marriage  is  a  matter  of  such  tre- 
mendous importance  in  China  that  the 
parties  who  are  to  be  united  in  wedlock  are 
permitted  to  have  nothing  whatever  to  say 
about  choice,  mating,  or  anything  else  until 
after  the  wedding  is  an  accomplished  fact; 
so  far  as  the  engagement  and  simple  cere- 
mony are  concerned.  Of  course,  I  am 
speaking  now  rather  of  the  China  that  was, 
than  the  China  that  is;  yet  I  doubt  very 
much  if  the  radical  changes  which  have 
come  in  so  many  institutions  with  startling 
rapidity  during  the  last  two  years,  have 
very  much  influence  upon  betrothal  and 
marriage.  It  may  be  true  in  China,  as  it 
actually  is  in  Japan,  that  young  men  and 
women  who  have  been  educated  abroad  or 
in  the  liberal  mission  schools  of  their  own 
land,  and  who  have  all  their  lives  been 
brought  up  in  an  atmosphere  of  a  "  western  " 
community,  are  taking  these  matters  into 
their  own  hands. 


HOME   AND   FAMILY   LIFE  73 

The  main  reason  for  marriage  in  China 
was,  and  I  should  not  like  to  say  it  is 
not  so  now,  to  preserve  the  continuity  of 
the  family  line.  But  a  daughter  cannot  do 
this  for  their  own  family,  because  to  the  Chi- 
nese mind  the  term  "  ancestral  line  "  meant 
simply  and  absolutely,  the  continuity  of 
father  and  son  without  any  consideration 
being  given  to  mother  and  daughter. 

It  was  imperatively  necessary  that  a  man 
should  have  a  son  who  will  perform  the 
pious  rites  before  the  ancestral  tablets  or 
at  the  family  tombs.  Hence,  the  primary 
reason  for  marriage  and  the  creation  of  a 
home.  The  attitude  which  Christian  mis- 
sionaries should  take  towards  this  subject 
of  ancestral  worship  has  been  one  of  the 
most  diflQcult  problems  with  which  they 
have  been  brought  face  to  face.  I  fear  it 
has  not  yet  been  satisfactorily  settled ;  but 
there  are  cheering  evidences  that  with  the 
spread  of  Christianity,  the  matter  may 
gradually  lose  its  importance  and  be  al- 
lowed to  pass  into  "  innocuous  desuetude." 

Say  what  we  like,  it  was  a  form  of  wor- 
ship and  the  prayers  which  a  devout  Chinese 
made  before  the  ancestral  tablets  in  his  own 
home,  or  at  the  graves  of  his  fathers,  were 
supposed  to  be  heard  by  the  departed  an- 
cestors' spirits,  who  had  power  to  grant  or 
refuse.     The    assertion    that    the    seemiuo; 


74     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

worship  was  in  reality  nothing  more  than 
a  mark  of  respect  entirely  comparable  with 
the  act  of  a  good  American  citizen  in  rais- 
ing his  hat  as  he  stands  before  the  tomb  of 
George  Washington,  or  by  the  grave  of  his 
own  father,  was  —  to  express  it  mildly  — 
specious. 

There  was  an  old  proverb  in  China, 
"  Without  a  go-between,  a  betrothal  cannot 
be  effected."  So  the  parents  of  a  young 
man  who  had  reached  marriageable  age  or 
of  a  daughter  who  was  fitted  to  become  a 
wife,  employed  a  go-between,  who  either 
made  a  selection  himself  and  reported  his 
choice  to  the  parents  who  employed  him,  or 
acted  on  instructions  given  by  his  patrons 
and  sounded  the  parents  of  the  girl  or  youth 
who  had  been  selected  as  a  suitable  part- 
ner. 

It  was  almost  always  the  young  man's 
parents  who  commenced  such  negotiations. 
The  go-between  was  given  a  huge  piece  of 
red  paper  (that  is  to  say  the  formal  Chinese 
visiting  card!)  on  which  were  written  the 
ancestral  name  of  the  family  and  full  in- 
formation as  to  the  date  of  the  young  man's 
birth;  further  information  might  be  im- 
parted through  the  go-between. 

If  the  girl's  parents  listened  to  the  go- 
between,  they  then  made  inquiries  about  the 
family    of    the    young    man.     These    being 


HOME   AND    FAMILY   LIFE  75 

satisfactory,  it  was  most  important  to  con- 
sult a  Fiuig-sui  Siensnng,  who,  making  use 
of  the  eight  trigrams,  decided  whether  or 
not  the  betrothal  would  be  proper  and  aus- 
picious. Needless  to  say,  the  nature  of 
this  decision  was  easily  influenced  by  the 
size  of  the  fee  given  the  "  doctor."  It  has 
not  been  an  unheard-of  thing  for  a  girl  who 
had  some  other  young  man  in  the  corner  of 
her  eye,  to  send  the  "  doctor  "  a  bigger  fee 
than  her  parents  had  furnished,  with  an  in- 
timation that  it  would  be  well  to  declare 
against  the  proposed  engagement. 

After  the  go-between  had  presented  the 
card  and  it  had  been  favorably  received, 
three  days  were  given  to  investigation. 
There  were  innumerable  bad  omens  which 
might  cause  instantaneous  breaking  off  of 
these  negotiations:  for  example,  the  acci- 
dental destruction  of  an  earthenware  bowl, 
tlie  loss  of  something  valuable,  or  myste- 
rious illness. 

There  was  no  civil  or  religious  ceremony 
to  effect  a  marriage.  The  bride  went  to 
the  groom's  home  in  a  special  kind  of  closed 
sedan  chair,  or  in  a  gorgeous  palanquin 
borne  high  on  the  shoulders  of  many  coolies. 
and  ^^■as  formally  received  by  him.  It 
should  be  noted  that  every  effort  was  made 
to  liave  the  wedding  procession  as  conspic- 
uous   as    possible.     There    was    a    band    of 


76     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

music,  often  some  firecrackers,  and  a  noisy 
crowd;  the  size  of  the  last  mentioned  being 
measured  by  the  ability  of  the  bride's  father 
to  distribute  largesse!  They  sat  for  a  few 
minutes  on  the  edge  of  the  bridal  bed  in  the 
presence  of  the  groom's  parents  and  the  go- 
between;  then  they  went  before  the  ances- 
tral tablets  and  w^orshiped  the  groom's  an- 
cestors; thence  they  proceeded  to  the 
banquet  hall,  the  bride's  head  being  covered 
with  a  veil  or  a  peculiar  headdress,  where 
they  exchanged  small  cups  of  samshu  (a 
liquor  distilled  from  rice).  Finally  they 
partook  together  of  their  wedding  dinner, 
being  attended  by  the  women  servants  of  the 
household  or  some  who  were  specially  em- 
ployed for  the  occasion.  That  consummated 
the  marriage  as  a  ceremony ;  then  the  girl's 
name  was  struck  off  the  register  at  her 
father's  house,  and  added  to  that  of  her 
father-in-law,  and  that  was  all. 

Stories  connected  with  betrothal  and  mar- 
riage customs  are  always  interesting,  and 
that  is  my  justification  for  including  one 
here.  A  betrothed  couple  in  China  were  very 
often  declared  "  to  have  had  their  feet  tied 
together,"  the  act  of  the  gods  being  implied. 
The  story  which  explains  this  allusion  is  as 
follows :  In  the  time  of  the  T'ang  dynasty, 
Ui-ko  was  once  a  guest  in  the  city  of  Sung. 
He  observed  an  old  man  reading  a  book  bv 


HOME   AND    FAMILY   LIFE  77 

the  light  of  the  moon,  who  addressed  him 
thus :  "  This  is  the  register  of  the  engage- 
ments in  marriage  for  all  the  places  under 
the  heavens."  He  also  said  to  him :  "  In 
my  pocket  I  have  red  cords  with  which  I 
tie  together  the  feet  of  those  who  are  to 
become  husband  and  wife.  When  this  cord 
has  been  tied,  though  the  parties  are  of  un- 
friendly families,  or  of  different  nations 
even,  it  is  impossible  to  change  their  des- 
tiny. Your  future  wife,"  continued  the  old 
man,  "  is  the  child  of  the  old  woman  who 
sells  vegetables  in  yonder  shop  towards  the 
north."  In  a  few  days  Ui-ko  went  to  see 
her,  and  found  the  old  woman  had  in  her 
arms  a  girl  about  a  year  old,  who  was  ex- 
ceedingly ugl3\  He  hired  a  man,  who  went 
and  (as  he  supposed)  killed  the  girl. 
Fourteen  years  afterwards,  in  the  country 
of  Siong-chiu,  was  a  prefect  whose  family 
name  was  Mo,  surnamed  Tai,  who  gave  Ui- 
ko  in  marriage  a  girl  who,  he  affirmed,  was 
liis  own  daughter.  She  was  very  beautiful, 
but  over  one  eyebrow  she  always  wore  an 
artificial  flower.  Ui-ko  constantly  asked 
her  why  she  wore  the  flower  and  at  length 
she  said,  "  I  am  the  daughter  of  the  pre- 
fect's brother.  ]My  father  died  in  the  city 
of  Sung  when  I  was  but  an  infant.  ]\Iy 
nurse  was  an  old  woman  who  sold  vege- 
tables.    One  dav  she  took  me  with  her  out 


78     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

into  the  streets,  when  a  robber  struck  me. 
The  scar  of  the  wound  is  still  on  my  eye- 
brow." 

The  conviction  of  the  Chinese  that  Fate 
or  Heaven  decides  who  are  to  become  hus- 
band and  wife,  is  quite  as  strange  and  as 
convincing  as  is  our  own  declaration, 
"  matches  are  made  in  heaven."  If  red 
cords  or  threads  are  not  literally  used  to 
tie  their  feet  together,  the  cups  with  which 
a  couple  pledge  each  other  are  not  unfre- 
quently  so  united;  the  cords  being  taken 
from  the  wedding  gifts,  which  are  invariably 
tied  up  with  such  string.  Some  of  those 
same  red  cords  are  braided  temporarily  into 
the  groom's  queue,  while  others  are  worked 
into  the  embroidered  design  of  the  bride's 
wedding  shoes. 

Another  very  curious  thing  about  the  old- 
time  marriage  ceremony,  if  we  may  call  it 
so,  was  the  conspicuousness  of  big  needles. 
The  theory  was  that  the  thread  could  not 
properly  be  used  without  a  needle  and  if  it 
could  not  be  used  how  were  the  two  young 
people  to  be  drawn  together? 

Bearing  in  mind  the  primary  reason  for 
which  the  mythological  ancestor  of  the 
Chinese  instituted  the  right  of  marriage, 
which  was  that  a  son  might  carry  on  the  an- 
cestral line,  it  was  sufficient  reason  from 
their   point   of   view   to   justify    polygamy. 


HOME   AND    FAMILY   LIFE  79 

Therefore  if  the  "  Real  Wife  "  had  no  son  to 
perform  the  required  sacrifices  and  offer  the 
necessary  prayers  to  the  father's  shades,  and 
through  that  father  to  all  the  line  of  male 
ancestors  until  goodness  knows  how  far 
back,  it  was  permitted  to  take  a  secondary 
wife  or  concubine. 

But  in  her  case  there  was  none  of  the 
ceremony  that  has  been  recounted  when  the 
young  people  were  truly  married.  Yet 
even  to-day  every  Chinese  man  likes  to 
have  a  number  of  sons  of  his  own,  even  if 
the  ancestral  worship  is  strictly  the  prerog- 
ative of  the  eldest.  To  secure  a  lot  of  sons 
is  probably  sufficient  to  explain  why  it  is 
that  nearl}'  every  man  in  China,  Avithout  ex- 
ception almost,  is  married  and  pretty 
nearly  every  woman,  too.  To  justify  the 
desire  for  many  sons  is  an  accepted  excuse 
for  concubinage. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  is  no 
disgrace  to  this  concubinage,  any  more  than 
there  is  supposed  to  be  nothing  degrading 
about  the  plural  wives  "  sealed  "  to  a  Mor- 
mon. In  China  as  a  matter  of  fact,  with 
the  exception  of  the  sentimental  or  reli- 
gious dignity  of  tlie  eldest  son,  all  the  boys 
in  a  family  are  of  absolutely  equal  rank 
and  their  legal  status  is  the  same,  if  there 
is  some  difference  between  them  in  the  mat- 
ter   of   inheritance    due    to    primogeniture. 


80     ouE  neighbors:    the  chi:n^ese 

The  obligations  of  ancestor  worship  neces- 
sitate the  holding  of  the  family  real  property 
in  one  hand,  and  therefore  to  that  extent 
the  eldest  son  is  superior  to  his  brothers. 

Now,  whether  the  young  man  receives  his 
bride  into  his  father's  "  home  '' —  as  is  usu- 
ally the  case  —  or  into  one  which  he  purposes 
setting  up  for  himself,  she  is  sure  to  have  a 
dreary  time  for  a  while.  Her  mother-in- 
law  has  the  right,  confirmed  by  immemorial 
precedence,  to  make  the  young  bride  a 
slave,  if  the  older  woman  is  so  minded ;  and 
it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  Chinese 
poets  and  story  writers  so  often  represent 
the  forlorn  creature  passing  her  days  in 
tears  which  overflow  from  a  homesick  heart. 

Because,  while  we  have  heard  too  many 
true  tales  about  female  infanticide  in 
China,  yet  when  the  baby  girl  has  been  per- 
mitted to  grow  up,  she  certainly  has  a 
happy  time  so  long  as  she  remains  in  the 
"  home "  of  her  own  parents.  Father, 
mother,  and  brothers,  treat  her  as  their  little 
princess,  and  if  —  because  of  their  thin 
family  purse  —  she  has  to  labor,  as  a  rule 
her  share  of  the  task  is  small  when  com- 
pared with  that  of  her  brothers. 

Naturally  then  in  the  new  home,  the 
bride  is  likely  to  be  unhappy.  Etiquette 
and  inflexible  "  old  custom,"  the  bugbear  of 
China,  forbid  her  husband  showing  her  any 


HOME   AND   FAMILY   LIFE  81 

of  the  pleasing  gallantries  and  attentions 
that  are  gladly  given  in  America  and  Eu- 
rope, and  are  naturally  expected  in  our  part 
of  the  world.  It  is  no  part  of  the  father-in- 
law's  duty  to  treat  the  new  daughter  as  he 
undoubtedly  had  borne  himself  towards  his 
own  girls.  The  honeymoon  in  China  is 
inevitably  a  forlorn  time  for  the  bride,  and 
there  is  nothing  about  it  which  the  groom 
himself  recalls  with  any  special  pleasure. 

When  the  two  young  people  become  ac- 
quainted then  interest  often  ripens  into  the 
sincerest  affection ;  something  that  may 
properly  be  dignified  by  the  name  of  "  love." 
There  are  innumerable  instances  mentioned 
in  history  and  in  lighter  literature  of  the 
devotion  shown  by  a  woman  for  her  hus- 
band, and  of  her  ability  to  render  him 
material  assistance  in  many  ways;  and  on 
the  other  hand  there  are  an  equal  number 
of  pleasing  proofs  that  the  Chinese  man  has 
for  his  wife  and  children  as  sincere  an  af- 
fection as  is  to  be  found  in  any  part  of  the 
world. 

If  the  first  child  is  a  boy,  the  mother's 
position  is  changed  completely.  She  may 
now,  in  a  measure,  lord  it  over  her  mother- 
in-law,  wlio  certainly  will  no  longer  dare  to 
make  a  drudge  of  her  daughter-in-law. 
Amongst  tlie  Chinese  there  is  naturally, 
when  we  think  of  their  ideas  as  to  the  im- 


82     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

portance  of  preserving  the  ancestral  line, 
a  strong  preference  for  at  least  one  boy,  or 
more  of  them.  But  when  the  ancestral  wor- 
ship has  been  suflSciently  assured,  and  if  the 
circumstances  of  the  family  are  fairly  good, 
then  there  is  a  desire  for  a  girl. 

With  the  coming  of  the  first  child,  whether 
it  be  a  boy  or  a  girl,  we  may  say  that  family 
life  has  now  begun;  and  it  is  often  as 
happy  an  one  as  is  that  of  the  Japanese, 
and  in  a  previous  volume  of  this  series  it 
has  been  shown  that  such  life  amongst  our 
Japanese  neighbors  is  as  happy  as  is  to  be 
found  in  any  part  of  the  world. 

The  Chinese  dwelling  varies  in  size  and 
in  certain  aspects  just  as  much  as  do  our 
own.  There  is  little  variation  in  the  styles 
of  architecture,  and  the  wealthy  men  were 
scrupulously  careful  to  shut  themselves  in 
behind  high  walls  so  that  no  strangers  could 
look  into  the  privacy  of  their  home  life. 
Conservative  as  the  Chinese  have  forever 
been  in  most  ways;  yet  some  of  them  dis- 
play a  surprising  imitativeness  in  certain 
matters.  The  description  of  a  wealthy  mer- 
chant's house  at  Canton,  or  that  of  a  suc- 
cessful scholar  in  any  part  of  the  country, 
or  that  of  an  official,  or  that  of  a  villa  in 
some  picturesque  spot  or  on  the  shores  of 
a  lake  of  great  natural  beauty,  would  an- 
swer for  the  same  character  of  abode  in  the 


HOME    AND    FAMILY   LIFE  83 

extreme  nortli  —  a  reasonable  concession  to 
Divine  Meteorologjy  being  made. 

There  would  be  nothing  for  the  outsider 
to  see  except  the  high  wall  made  of  sun- 
dried  bricks;  the  tiled  roofs  of  the  build- 
ings, for  size  and  importance  of  the  resi- 
dence is  measured  by  the  number  of  these 
rather  than  by  the  number  of  stories;  be- 
cause even  the  multimillionaires  (and  there 
were  and  are  a  goodly  number  of  these  in 
China)  rarely  goes  up  more  than  one  flight 
of  steps. 

If  riches  increase  and  the  family  develops 
in  children  and  grandchildren,  the  house 
spreads  over  more  ground,  and  this  necessity 
gives  the  chance  for  added  courtyards, 
numerous  miniature  gardens,  and  all  man- 
ner of  quaintness  in  internal  arrangement, 
attractive  passages  connecting  the  different 
parts  of  the  establishment,  and  other  details 
peculiar  to  the  architecture  of  China.  Is 
not  our  Chinese  neighbor  to  be  envied  in 
tills? 

I  have  always  known  that  I  was  singu- 
larly fortunate  in  going  to  China  when  I 
was  a  lad,  and  especially  so  in  that  my 
good  teacher,  working  with  receptive  ears 
and  a  fairly  fluent  tongue,  speedily  put  me 
in  command  of  the  vernacular.  When  some 
of  his  loyal  literary  friends,  those  who 
were   brave  enougli   to   refuse   to   ostracize 


84       OUR   NEIGHBOES:     THE   CHINESE 

him  because  of  his  defection  in  the  matter 
of  religion,  and  who  themselves  had  been 
more  successful  in  their  careers  than  he; 
and  when  several  of  the  wealthy  merchants 
as  well  as  some  of  the  grand  officials  even, 
like  the  Tau-tai  (sub-prefect),  learned  that 
I  could  speak  "  The  Clear  Language,"  they 
often  invited  me  to  their  homes. 

When  I  accepted  these  invitations,  and 
I  was  always  glad  to  do  so,  if  possible,  I 
was  treated  by  them  with  a  freedom  that 
would  not  have  been  extended  to  their 
native  friends,  because  of  the  strong  re- 
straint caused  by  conventions.  This  pleas- 
ing treatment  my  hosts  were  unwilling  to 
extend  to  any  older  foreigner.  My  mission- 
ary friends  often  saw  the  Chinese  at  home; 
but  it  was  never  until  they  had  induced 
at  least  some  of  the  inmates  to  put  away 
their  heathen  worship  and  accept  Chris- 
tianity. Even  in  such  cases  there  was  al- 
ways a  certain  restraint,  at  least  so  they 
told  me. 

With  me,  however,  there  was  apparently 
no  restraint  at  all.  After  the  shyness  of 
the  first  call  had  worn  off, —  the  girls  were 
just  as  free  with  me  as  they  were  with  their 
own  brothers.  The  mother  and  all  the 
women  folks  went  about  the  house  just  as 
they  would  have  done  had  I  not  been  there. 
My  host  made  himself  as  informally  com- 


HOME   AND   FAMILY   LIFE  85 

fortable  as  he  liked;  and  this  means  a  good 
deal  in  a  Chinese  home,  because  the  shoes 
they  wear  are  never  very  comfortable,  and 
as  soon  as  a  man  can  do  so  he  puts  them 
off  and  goes  about  the  house  in  slippers 
or  stocking-feet  or  barefooted.  If  the 
weather  is  at  all  warm,  he  discards  his  outer 
robes  with  a  desire  to  be  as  negligee 
as  possible. 

As  for  myself,  when  once  in  the  family 
living  room  and  the  invariable  formalities 
of  speech  and  salutation  had  been  ex- 
changed, I  roamed  about  at  my  own  sweet 
will,  but  was  usually  accompanied  by  some 
of  the  younger  members  of  the  family,  who 
never  seemed  to  get  over  their  amazement 
that  "  an  outside  barbarian "  could  con- 
verse with  them  in  the  only  language  that 
human  beings  ought  to  use. 

I  never  detected  the  first  trace  of  privacy 
as  we  would  use  the  word ;  although  I  knew 
that  into  the  "  women's  quarters "  it  was 
not  seemly  for  me  to  go.  That  restriction 
was  put  upon  the  older  boys  of  the  family 
quite  as  much  as  it  was  upon  any  adult 
male.  I  liave  seen  many  a  treasure  of  bric- 
a-brac,  many  a  bed  of  flowers  hidden  away 
in  the  heart  of  a  city;  but  I  never  saw  a 
truly  comfortable  room,  measured  by  our 
own  standards,  in  a  Chinese  home !  I  don't 
believe  tliere  ever  was  one  that  would  do- 


86     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

serve  tlie  name  according  to  our  opinions. 
At  Shanghai,  Hongkong,  Singapore,  and 
some  other  places  where  the  Chinese  are 
brought  constantly  into  association  with  for- 
eigners and  have  taken  to  imitating  the  ways 
of  Europeans  and  Americans,  in  a  measure 
at  least,  there  are  dwelling  houses  in  which 
the  natives  have  reception  rooms  and  even 
dining  halls  that  are  furnished  in  what  is 
called  a  European  fashion.  In  some  of 
these  there  are  easy  chairs,  sofas,  and  divans 
so  that  the  foreign  visitors  are  made  fairly 
comfortable. 


CHArTER  YII 

OCCUPATIONS 

THE  first  Europeans  to  make  acquaint- 
ance with  our  Chinese  neighbors  found 
them  to  be  a  remarkably  industrious 
and  intelligent  people.  John  de  Piano 
Carpini,  an  early  missionary  of  the  Romish 
Church,  was  at  the  Court  of  the  Grand 
Khan  of  Tartary  in  the  years  1245  to  1247, 
but  he  did  not  succeed  in  getting  into  China 
proper.  lie  saw  a  number  of  Chinese  at 
the  Mongol  Court,  however,  and  although 
he  called  them  heathen,  as  he  was  almost 
compelled  to  do  any  who  differed  from  him 
in  belief,  yet  he  admitted  that  they  were  an 
intelligent  people,  having  a  method  of  writ- 
ing which  was  peculiarly  their  own.  He 
added,  moreover,  that  they  were  kindly  in 
disposition,  and  in  their  way,  fairly  pol- 
ished. Carpini  declared  that  from  what  his 
observation  enabled  him  to  determine,  the 
Chinese  of  his  time  were  admirable  crafts- 
men in  every  art  practised  by  man,  and,  he 
said,  "  their  betters  are  not  to  be  found  in 
any  part  of  the  whole  world." 

A  Franciscan  friar,  Rubruquis,  went  to 
Asia  some  time  after  Carpini,  and  reached 

87 


88     OUR  neighbors;   the  Chinese 

Cathay,  or  Cliina,  which  he  affirmed  was 
the  land  of  Ceres  "  with  which  we  are  made 
familiar  by  the  writings  of  the  Latin  poets 
of  the  Augustan  Age.'^  Kubruquis  said 
that  the  Cathayans,  that  is,  the  Chinese, 
were  small  people  in  stature  and  one  of 
their  marked  peculiarities  was  to  speak 
through  their  noses;  like  practically  all  the 
Mongols,  their  eyes  were  narrow. 

He  considered  the  Chinese  to  be  first  rate 
workmen  in  every  branch  of  industry  and 
art.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  speak  ap- 
provingly of  their  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  virtues  of  all  herbs,  and  he  considered 
that  they  had  an  admirable  skill  in  diagnosis 
by  the  pulse.  I  may  very  properly  inter- 
polate here  that  a  much  later  visitor,  the 
famous  Roman  Catholic  missionary  Hue, 
who  traveled  in  China  during  the  first  half 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  was  also  pleased 
with  the  skill  of  the  Chinese  doctors. 

Hue  had  the  misfortune  to  break  some  of 
his  ribs,  and  before  he  came  to  a  place 
where  he  could  secure  medical  assistance, 
a  considerable  fever  had  developed.  When 
at  last  a  physician  and  surgeon  was  found, 
he  first  administered  a  cooling  acid  drink, 
made  with  native  vinegar,  and  not  at  all 
unlike  lemonade,  but  unsweetened.  This, 
with  some  decoctions  of  herbs,  allayed  the 
fever  sufficiently'  to  permit  of  attempting  to 


OCCUPATIONS  89 

reduce  the  fractured  ribs.  Then  the  doctor 
bade  his  patient  sit  upright  and  suddenly 
dashed  some  ice-cold  water  into  Hue's  face. 

Naturally,  of  course,  the  patient  gasped 
for  breath  violently,  and  this  action  so 
quickly  and  so  greatly  expanded  the  lungs 
that  the  ribs  were  thrown  back  into  place 
and  thereafter  they  promptly  reunited. 

Although  we  may  be  amused  by  this 
crude,  yet  effective,  surgery,  yet  we  cannot 
share  the  opinions  of  Rubruquis  and  Hue 
that  Chinese  doctors  were  even  entitled 
to  be  considered  true  physicians  and  sur- 
geons. 

Rubruquis  adds  his  testimony  to  show 
that  the  Chinese  were  skilled  in  every  art, 
and  were  so  far  advanced  in  commercial 
affairs  as  to  use  bank-notes  for  a  circulating 
medium.  These  were  made  "  of  pieces  of 
cotton  paper  about  a  palm  in  length  and 
breadth,  upon  which  lines  are  printed  re- 
sembling the  seals  of  Mangu  Khan,"  who 
was  the  third  in  succession  from  the  famous 
Genghis  Khan. 

The  Polos,  Nicolo,  his  brother  Maffeo,  and 
Marco,  son  of  the  first  named,  visited  Ca- 
thay in  the  years  1275  to  1292  and  were  also 
much  impressed  with  the  industrial  and 
commercial  advance  of  the  Chinese.  That 
which  especially  attracted  their  attention 
was  the  use  of  bank-notes,  which  were  not 


90     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

used  in  Europe  for  quite  four  centuries 
after  that  time. 

In  the  British  Museum,  London,  there  is 
a  Chinese  bank-note  of  the  fourteenth  or 
early  fifteenth  century.  The  paper  is  al- 
most black.  Marco  Polo  gives  this  explana- 
tion of  the  color :  "  The  Emperor  makes 
them  [his  subjects]  take  the  bark  of  a  cer- 
tain tree,  in  fact  of  the  Mulberry  tree,  the 
leaves  of  which  are  the  food  of  the  silk- 
worms—  the  trees  being  so  numerous  that 
whole  districts  are  full  of  them.  What 
they  take  is  a  certain  fine  white  bast  or 
skin  which  lies  between  the  wood  of  the  tree 
and  the  thick  outer  bark,  and  this  they 
make  into  something  resembling  sheets  of 
paper,  but  black." 

It  will  thus  be  evident  that  the  occupa- 
tions of  the  Chinese  have  been  numerous 
and  of  a  very  varied  nature  ever  since  those 
people  were  known  to  Europeans.  It  is  un- 
necessary to  state  that  industry  and  di- 
versity of  occupation  continue  to  be  their 
characteristics,  while  that  the  scope  has 
greatly  extended  within  the  past  two  or 
three  centuries  is  also  a  matter  of  common 
knowledge. 

There  has  been,  however,  marked  de- 
terioration in  some  of  their  finer  arts  within 
less  tlian  a  millennium.  Pictorial  art  is  now 
not  to  be  compared  with  what  it  was  in  the 


M 


,1/.V  Street,  Mukden 


OCCUPATIONS  91 

time  of  the  Ming  dynasty  (1368  to  1644 
A.  D.)  and  the  earlier  Sung  dynasty  (960 
to  1279  A.  D. ) ,  when  the  artists  of  Japan 
sought  wisdom  and  instruction  in  the  studios 
of  Chinese  artists. 

The  temptation  to  discuss  the  growth  and 
characteristics  of  Chinese  graphic  art  must 
be  resisted,  for  even  a  cursory  glance  would 
more  than  supply  me  with  material  for  an 
entire  volume.  Yet  I  cannot  refrain  from 
saying  that  in  this  particular  art  the  Jap- 
anese, as  scholars,  have  so  far  outstripped 
their  former  teachers,  that  no  critic  would 
think  of  comparing  the  ordinary  pictures 
from  the  Japanese  studios  with  the  best 
from  China  during  more  than  three  cen- 
turies. 

Many  of  the  peculiarly  Chinese  charac- 
teristics of  pictorial  art  have  been  forgot- 
ten and  it  is  not  likely  that  efforts  will  be 
made  to  revive  them.  It  is  sad,  too,  that  the 
best  features  of  the  keramic  art  have  been 
lost ;  it  is  declared  that  the  paste,  glaze, 
and  decoration  of  the  Ming  dj'Uasty  can- 
not now  be  satisfactorily  reproduced. 
Tills  may  be  true,  and  yet  I  am  inclined  to 
doubt  it.  The  pottery  of  that  time  was 
something  that  would  be  quite  as  attractive 
now  as  it  ever  was,  could  it  be  reproduced 
in  shape,  material,  design,  and  finish.  I 
rather  think  that  there  may  come  a  demand 


92     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

which  will  stimulate  the  students  of  applied 
chemistry  to  rediscover  all  that  is  neces- 
sary to  give  us  what  is  said  to  be  a  "  lost 
art." 

My  reason  for  this  opinion  is  based,  in  a 
measure,  upon  the  following  described  inci- 
dent. A  few  years  ago  there  were  gathered 
round  a  luncheon  table  in  Tokyo,  a  number 
of  art  enthusiasts,  connoisseurs  and  manu- 
facturers, to  do  honor  to  a  Western  collec- 
tor of  world-wide  fame,  who  was  making 
his  first  visit  to  Japan.  His  cabinets  at 
home  were  filled  with  specimens  of  the  best 
keramic  art  of  Japan  since  the  birth  of  the 
Satsuma  ware,  in  the  last  decade  of  the 
eighteenth  century ;  as  well  as  of  the  older, 
although  much  less  attractive  wares  of  pre- 
Satsuma  times. 

In  the  center  of  the  table  stood  a  tall  vase 
of  apparently  Chinese  origin,  of  great  an- 
tiquity, and  a  wonderful  sample  of  a  "  lost 
art."  Towards  the  end  of  the  repast,  when 
satisfied  appetites  gave  better  opportunity 
to  discuss  less  material  things  than  the  good 
ones  of  the  table,  a  European  of  recognized 
fame  as  an  expert  in  keramics,  remarked 
that  it  was  an  awful  pity  such  charming 
shapes,  such  effective  colors,  and  such 
marvelous  glaze,  could  no  longer  be  pro- 
duced. "  For,"  said  he, — "  it  is  many  cen- 
turies since  men  lost  the  art  of  makins:  such 


OCCUPATIONS  93 

a  treasure  as  that  which  ornaments  our 
host's  table,"  and  he  pointed  to  the  vase. 

Then  a  manufacturer,  whose  masterpieces 
have  been  the  admiration  of  all  who  were 
privileged  to  examine  them,  asked  permis- 
sion to  look  at  the  vase  closely.  The  host 
at  once  gave  consent,  although  there  was  a 
twinkle  in  his  eyes,  and  he  told  the  servant 
to  remove  the  flowers,  empty  the  water,  and 
bring  the  dry  vase  back  to  the  table.  This 
was  done,  and  the  manufacturer  then  turned 
the  vase  upside  down,  looked  towards  his 
host  with  a  nod  as  of  request,  and  received 
a  permissive  nod  in  reply.  He  then  drew 
his  pocket  knife  and  chipped  off  a  flake 
from  the  bottom  thus  revealing  his  own 
trade-mark ! 

The  vase,  that  represented  "  lost  arts  " 
in  paste,  decoration,  and  glaze,  had  been 
made  by  himself,  or  at  least  in  his  own 
factory.  I  mention  no  names,  but  tlie  story 
can  be  verified;  and  this  being  so,  I  see  no 
reason  why  all  the  "  lost "  features  of  this 
keramic  industry  might  not  be  recovered. 
If  it  were  made  possible  to  supply  "  Peach- 
blow  Vases,"  in  every  way  equal  to  the  ex- 
quisite confections  of  the  Ming  potteries; 
the  owner  of  the  pair  that  recently  brought 
£4000  at  auction,  miglit  feel  that  he  has  a 
cause  for  action  in  destroying  the  senti- 
mental value  of  his  treasure. 


94     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

But  the  occupations  of  our  Chinese 
neighbors  must  be  considered  in  a  more 
practical  way  tlian  has  been  done.  Agri- 
culture is  so  far  in  the  lead  that  within  the 
eighteen  provinces  of  China  proper,  all  the 
rest,  if  lumped  together,  would  not  equal 
it  in  value.  The  Chinese  are  essentially 
a  farming  class  and  this  industry  is  still 
the  one  upon  which  they  live.  The  Man- 
chus,  the  Mongolians,  the  Tibetans,  and  the 
Mahometans  of  Dzungaria  and  Turkestan, 
may  be  herdsmen  and  shepherds  (very  in- 
cidentally agriculturalists),  but  the  impor- 
tance of  their  occupations  shrinks  to  almost 
nothing  when  compared  with  that  of  the 
Chinese  farmer. 

One  could  easily  fill  a  large  volume  with 
an  account  of  all  the  phases  of  agriculture. 
Probably  the  highest  place  would  be  given 
to  silk  culture  because  of  its  aesthetic  at- 
tractiveness and  its  great  money  value. 
Tea,  too,  would  rank  very  high,  even  if  most 
Europeans  and  Americans  have  turned  from 
Chinese  teas  to  those  of  India  and  Japan, 
for  so  long  as  the  hundreds  of  millions  of 
the  Chinese  continue  to  use  tea,  and  the 
many  millions  of  Russians  do  the  same, 
there  cannot  be  very  serious  diminution  of 
the   value  of  this  industry. 

Let  us  hope  that  the  Chinese  certainly 
will    not    speedily    change    their    common 


OCCUPATIONS  95 

beverage  from  tea  to  cold  water.  There  are 
so  many  diseases  which  contaminated  water 
spreads  easily,  that  cholera  and  other  fatal 
complaints  would  work  even  greater  havoc 
among  the  people  who  hardly  know  what 
pure  drinking  water  is.  As  water  must 
be  actually  boiling  properly  to  draw  tea,  at 
least  some  of  the  danger  is  removed. 

All  along  the  coast  and  in  the  inland 
Avaters,  the  fisherman  in  China  follows  an 
occupation  that  is  very  little  behind  in  im- 
portance, that  of  his  brothers  in  Japan. 
"  Besides  all  these  inner-water  craft,  there 
are  the  sea-going  fishing  smacks,  and  trawl- 
ers and  numerous  fishing-junks  of  one  sort 
or  another,  which  supph'  the  enormous 
market  for  fish  in  China,  dead  and  alive, 
salt  and  fresh,  with  such  a  variety  that  if 
one  ate  everything  that  comes  out  of  the 
sea,  as  the  Chinese  do,  there  would  be  a  new 
kind  of  fish  for  every  day  in  the  year.  For 
they  range  from  the  baby  oyster  to  the 
shark  or  dog-fish,  from  the  toothsome,  semi- 
translucent  white-rice  fish  to  the  green- 
boned  (jasupa* 

The  commercial  and  industrial  pursuits 
of  our  Chinese  neighbors  open  a  subject  that 
is  nearly  inexhaustible.  If  there  were 
bank-notes  in  circulation  more  than  four 
hundred    years    before    such    things    were 

*Eall,  J.  Dyer,  The  Chinese  at  Tlome. 


96     ouE  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

known  in  Europe,  there  must  have  been 
bankers  or  money-changers  to  use  them ;  and 
there  must  have  been  merchants  who  found 
these  convenient  accessories  to  commerce 
and  trade  useful,  else  they  would  hardly 
have  been  in  general  circulation.  Hence,  it 
is  correct  to  assume  that  the  Chinese  were 
merchants  and  tradesmen,  while  yet  Europe 
was  utterly  ignorant  of  anything  approach- 
ing even  rude  barter. 

Markets  —  in  the  broad,  proper  sense  of 
the  word  —  were  an  institution  in  China  so 
long  ago  that  record  of  their  beginning  is 
either  lost  or  it  never  was  noted.  Not  only 
is  this  true  precisely  of  China  proper;  but 
it  is  likewise  true  in  a  general  way  of  the 
outlying  possessions  of  the  Republic. 

One  thing  that  the  Chinese  merchant 
learned  long  ago,  and  learned  his  lesson 
well,  is  that  it  pays  to  be  honest.  He  is 
just  as  fond  of  dollars  as  any  human  being 
and  he  probably  would  not  hesitate  any 
more  than  the  trickiest  of  his  Yankee  neigh- 
bors to  get  ten  for  one  whenever  he  could 
do  so.  But  if  this  getting  ten  for  one  to- 
day means  the  loss  of  trade  that  would 
bring  two  for  one  for  twenty  years,  he  is 
shrewd  enough  to  prefer  the  continued  day 
of  small  things. 

As  toy-makers  and  workers  in  all  manner 
of  pretty  little  things,  the  Chinese  artizans 


OCCUPATIONS  97 

are  equal  to  any  in  the  world.  As  gold 
and  silversmiths,  too,  they  are  past  masters. 
These  latter  are,  however,  about  the  most 
unreliable  and  tricky  of  the  Chinese.  Yet 
as  imitators  they  are  without  peers.  What- 
ever is  put  into  their  hands  will  be  copied 
as  to  appearance  with  a  faithfulness  that 
all  too  often  deceives  the  original  owner. 
For  there  have  been  many  instances  of  a  for- 
eigner entrusting  to  an  ivory-carver  or  sil- 
versmith or  some  other  craftsman,  an  arti- 
cle to  be  copied,  and  long  after  finding  that 
the  one  returned  to  him  as  the  original  was 
itself  a  copy,  the  wily  workman  having  kept 
for  himself  the  more  valuable  original. 

Occupations!  there  is  no  occupation 
known  to  man  that  does  not  now  find  its 
representative  amongst  our  Chinese  neigh- 
bors. But  there  are  many  occupations 
which  were  either  entirely  peculiar  to 
China,  or  so  very  different  from  kindred 
occupations  in  America  and  Europe  as  to 
make  them  seem  to  be  unique.  Take,  for 
example,  the  barbers.  Until  the  passing  of 
the  Manchus  and  with  them  the  shaved 
head  and  long  queue  of  the  men,  the  Chi- 
nese barbers  were  institutions  in  every  way 
peculiar  unto  themselves. 

It  lias  never  been  clear  to  me  just  what 
was  the  legal  status  of  that  queue.  Some 
writers  declare  that  the  Mancliu  conquerors 


98     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

of  China  insisted  upon  their  newly -acquired 
subjects  conforming  to  a  fashion  that  was 
known  to  be  peculiarly  Manchu;  and  that 
the  seventeenth  century  conquerors  com- 
pelled the  Chinese  to  shave  their  heads,  all 
but  a  round  patch  at  the  crown  and  to  braid 
the  hair  which  was  allowed  to  grow,  into  a 
long  pigtail.  It  was  considered  a  mark  of 
subjugation,  and  failure  to  conform  to  the 
order  was  cause  enough  for  the  non-wearer 
to  lose  his  head. 

Other  authorities  declare  that  it  never 
was  made  absolutely  compulsory,  but  the 
politic  Chinese  soon  saw  the  wisdom  of 
paying  their  conquerors  the  sincere  flattery 
of  imitation.  I  have  never  seen  an  edict 
compelling  the  Chinese  to  adopt  the  peculiar 
style  of  hair-dressing. 

But  to  return  to  the  barbers.  They 
were  usually  peripatetic ;  that  is  they  rarely 
had  a  shop  —  for  myself  I  must  say  I  never 
saw  such  a  fixed  establishment. 

Often  the  barber  had  his  regular  custo- 
mers to  whose  homes  he  went  daily,  or  as 
often  as  he  was  required  to  do  so.  He  car- 
ried two  nests  of  drawers  slung  at  the  ends 
of  his  carrying-pole,  which  he  bore  on  one 
shoulder.  In  the  drawers  were  the  imple- 
ments of  his  trade;  but  there  were  besides 
lancets  (if  that  name  may  be  applied  to  the 


OCCUPATIONS  99 

knives  which  the  barber  used  to  let  blood) 
and  various  nostrums  which  he  was  con- 
tinually tryiuf^  to  persuade  his  customers 
to  buy.  In  these  respects  the  Chinese  bar- 
ber was  not  altogether  unlike  his  European 
congener  of  a  very  short  time  ago,  who  was, 
as  we  all  know,  a  combination  of  barber 
and  chirurgeon. 

One  of  the  barber's  boxes  was  the  right 
height  for  a  seat  —  if  he  chanced  to  find 
a  customer  in  the  street.  Then  took  place, 
al  fresco^  the  process  of  unbraiding  the 
queue,  shaving  the  head,  probing  the  ears 
and  nose,  and  if  there  were  hairs,  to  cut 
them  out  with  a  peculiarly  shaped,  narrow 
razor.  The  victim's  eyes,  too,  were  often 
"  cleansed  "  by  the  barber,  who  turned  the 
lids  inside  out  and  wiped  them  with  a  brush 
or  a  tuft  of  cotton  which  was  not  infallibly 
treated  antiseptically  after  each  operation. 
Small  wonder  that  diseases  of  the  eye  were 
so  common  as  they  used  to  be  in  China,  and 
are  even  now,  comparatively. 

Tlie  shaving  of  the  man  in  the  public 
streets  aroused  no  curiosity  whatever;  the 
passers-by  did  not  stop  for  an  instant,  and 
even  a  woman  would  occasionally  call  upon 
tlie  barber  in  the  broad  liighway  (no,  nar- 
row, for  "  broad  "'  streets  were  unknown  in 
the   tru(^   Chinese^   city),   to   hav(^   lier   face 


100    ouK  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

shaved  and  her  ears,  nose,  and  eyes  attended 
to.  The  itinerant  barber  will  probably  dis- 
appear before  long. 

Space  does  not  permit  of  a  lengthy  ac- 
count of  the  Chinese  sedan-chair  coolies. 
They  were,  to  be  sure,  not  altogether  unlike 
similar  porters  in  Europe  and  even  in 
America  a  century  or  so  ago;  but  their  oc- 
cupation was  conducted  in  a  somewhat  dif- 
ferent manner.  Nor  can  I  dwell  at  length 
upon  the  coffin-makers.  All  that  I  can  do 
is  to  say  that  this  occupation  was  a  most 
important  one;  because  very  often  a  man 
bought  his  coffin  years  before  he  had  actual 
use  for  it,  and  he  gave  careful  attention 
to  the  making  of  this,  his  last  bed,  and  was 
not  in  the  least  superstitious  about  taking 
it  to  his  home,  however  much  he  may  have 
dreaded  bad  luck  in  other  ways.  Our 
Chinese  neighbors,  in  many  of  their  occupa- 
tions were  certainly  a  very  peculiar  people; 
but  I  imagine  that  with  the  general  turning 
towards  the  ways  of  the  rest  of  the  world, 
many  of  those  peculiar  customs,  trades,  oc- 
cupations, and  professions,  will  become  as 
commonplace  as  they  are  in  every  other 
quarter  of  the  globe. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PLEASURES  OF  LIFE 

IF  we  give  place  to  the  ladies,  as  gal- 
lantry commands  and  as  consideration 
makes  agreeable,  it  has  to  be  admitted  that 
in  former  times  the  circle  of  a  Chinese 
grown-up  woman's  life  was  not  measured 
by  a  very  long  radius.  If  she  belonged  to 
the  poorer  classes,  her  life  as  a  woman  be- 
gan when  she  married  and  went  to  her  hus- 
band's home.  Here  she  became  at  once  the 
slave  of  her  parents-in-law  and  a  household 
drudge  in  every  way. 

About  her  only  pleasure  was  the  occa- 
sional or  definite  visit  to  the  temple  with 
which  her  husband's  family  affiliated. 
Tliis  might  be  once  a  moon  or,  in  exceptional 
cases,  twice  a  moon.  I  use  the  word 
"  moon  "  instead  of  "  month,"  because  the 
subdivision  of  the  year  was  measured  by 
the  waxing  and  waning  of  the  moon,  and 
those  periods  were  called  distinctly 
"  moons."  The  first  day  was  that  of  the 
new  moon,  the  fifteenth  —  or  ver^^  near  it 
■ —  was  the  day  of  the  full  moon,  and  these 
were   the   times   usually   chosen    for   those 

101 


102     ouE  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

temple  dissipations  that  were  often  the 
only  pleasure  a  poor  woman  knew. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  maternal 
instinct  —  as  strong  with  the  Chinese 
woman  as  with  any  of  her  sisters  the  world 
over  —  did  not  often  find  a  source  of  pleas- 
ure, even  in  a  hovel,  from  taking  care  of  the 
little  ones  and  watching  them  grow  up  to 
boyhood  and  girlhood.  But  poverty  in 
China  had  an  intenseness  which  very  few 
of  our  people  know ;  and  "  cares  and  sor- 
rows and  childbirth's  pains  "  meant  more  to 
a  poor  Chinese  woman  than  it  did  to  most 
of  her  Western  sisters. 

It  was  usually  considered  proper  for  a 
wife  to  accompany  her  husband  on  the  an- 
nual or  semi-annual  visit  to  the  graves  of 
his  ancestors.  That  is,  if  grinding  poverty 
did  not  compel  the  man  to  neglect  this  duty 
which  was  considered  almost  sacred.  The 
importance  of  this  ceremony  will  readily  be 
understood  if  my  readers  can  only  put 
themselves  for  a  moment  into  the  position 
of  the  Chinese  Avho  were  taught  to  believe 
that  the  worship  of  ancestors  and  attention 
to  their  mmics  in  every  way,  was  the  only 
chief  spiritual  duty  of  man. 

Visits  to  the  family  tombs  may  be  made 
at  any  time  and  are  quite  as  appropriate  as 
our  own  visits  to  the  special  comers  of  the 
cemetery  that  are  dear  to  us,  and  the  plac- 


PLEASURES   OF  LIFE  103 

ing  of  fresh  flowers  upon  the  graves  of  those 
whom  we  have  loved.  But  in  China  the 
great  occasion  for  these  visits  was  one  hun- 
dred and  six  days  after  the  winter  solstice, 
during  the  period  that  was  called  tsing- 
ming  in  the  old  or  Lunar  calendar.  If  the 
ceremony  is  kept  up  now  that  the  Gre- 
gorian calendar  has  supplanted  the  Lunar, 
this  ceremony  will  take  place  somewhere 
about  the  7th  of  April. 

In  the  southern  province  of  Kwan-tung, 
Canton  the  capital,  it  was  called  pai  slum, 
or  "  worshiping  on  the  hills."  The  gen- 
eral name  for  the  festival  was  siu  fan  ti, 
or  "  sweeping  the  graves."  In  any  lo- 
cality, while  the  general  name  was  under- 
stood, there  was  pretty  sure  to  be  a  special, 
local  name,  similar  to  that  used  by  the  peo- 
ple of  Kwan-tung.  The  Cantonese  name 
was  very  appropriate,  because  the  first  im- 
portant requirement  in  the  matter  of  fix- 
ing tlie  situation  of  a  grave,  was  to  get  it  on 
a  hillside  so  that  the  fung-shiii  should  be 
good. 

An  ideal  Chinese  grave  was  cut  into  the 
face  of  a  gradually  sloping  hill,  which  was 
dug  away  in  front  of  the  actual  grave  so 
as  to  leave  a  small  amphitlioater  shaped 
very  like  the  Greek  letter  Omega,  the  ends 
of  the  horseslioe-like  structure  usually  end- 
ing in  a  small  pilaster,  whicli  might  be  used 


104     ouE  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

as  a  stand  for  a  vase  of  flowers,  or  the 
figures  of  the  Dogs  of  Fuh,  "  Buddha's 
Dogs,"  who  were  the  special  guardians  of 
graves. 

The  rounding  sides  of  the  amphitheater 
rose  gradually  to  the  middle  of  the  tomb's 
side  walls;  and  here,  in  the  face  of  the  hill, 
is  the  tombstone,  bearing  the  posthumous 
name  of  the  dead  person  —  for  the  departed 
is  not  to  be  spoken  of  or  thought  of  by  his 
name  during  life,  and  a  priest  or  a  geoman- 
cer  must  select  an  appropriate  and  lucky 
one  to  be  placed  on  the  tombstone  and  upon 
the  ancestral  tablets. 

Immediately  in  front  of  the  tombstone 
stands  a  stone  slab,  supported  on  four  feet 
or  rough  stones;  and  on  this  is  placed  the 
tray  which  contains  the  articles  for  sacri- 
fice, the  samshii  for  libations,  candles, 
paper,  and  incense.  At  the  sin  fan  ti  the 
grave  was  repaired,  the  floor  of  the  amphi- 
theater swept,  the  dead  leaves  and  litter 
cleared  away  from  the  surrounding  land, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  service  three  pieces 
of  turf  were  placed  at  the  front  and  back, 
under  which  or  into  which  by  means  of  small 
sticks,  long  strips  of  red  and  white  paper 
were  placed.  These  served  to  indicate  that 
the  proper  rites  had  been  performed,  be- 
cause sometimes,  if  a  grave  stood  neglected 


PLEASURES   OF  LIFE  105 

for  three  years,  the  ground  might  be  plowed 
over  and  the  land  resold. 

In  addition  to  the  offering  at  the  grave 
itself,  the  worshipers  came  provided  with 
food  and  drink  sufficient  to  permit  of  their 
picnicking.  After  the  food  and  samshu  had 
stood  for  a  little  while  on  the  stone  tablet, 
it  was  assumed  that  the  spirits  of  the  de- 
ceased had  partaken  of  all  they  needed,  and 
the  material  residuum  was  added  to  the 
mourners'  feast.  Such  occasions  as  this 
often  gave  a  Chinese  woman  in  former  times 
one  of  her  very  few  pleasures  in  the  way  of 
recreation.  But  she  took  no  part  in  the 
worship. 

I  have  no  doubt  the  Chinese  women  used 
to  get  some  pleasure  from  visiting  their 
friends  and  gossiping  with  them  in  the 
privacy  of  the  women's  apartments.  At 
any  rate,  their  own  writers  give  them  credit 
for  being,  in  this  respect,  very  much  like 
others  of  their  sex  in  all  countries.  One 
conspicuous  effect  of  the  reorganization  of 
China  has  been  the  coming  out  of  women, 
botli  old  and  young,  from  the  privacy  which 
was  formerly  forced  upon  them.  It  is  not 
altogether  pleasing  to  tlieir  fellow  country- 
men, nor  to  their  friends  in  other  lands 
that  some  of  the  demonstrations  that  have 
accompanied  this  emancipation  have  been 


106     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

of  a  vigorous,  rather  militent,  kind  that  is 
disagreeably  in  contrast  with  the  reputed 
modesty  of  the  Chinese  woman. 

At  such  places  as  Shanghai,  Hongkong, 
and  Singapore,  where  Chinese  merchants 
and  others,  who  can  afford  to  do  so,  have 
taken  to  carriage  driving  very  kindly,  one 
would  see  every  afternoon  at  the  customary 
time  for  taking  an  airing  in  this  manner, 
handsome  carriages  in  which  were  seated 
the  man  himself,  his  wife,  and  sometimes 
their  children.  One  rather  amusing  feature 
of  this  diversion  is  that  not  infrequently, 
the  coachman  will  be  a  European  done  up 
in  appropriate  livery,  and  seeming  to  think 
there  is  nothing  degrading  in  his  being  the 
servant  of  a  Chinese  master.  This  rather 
anomalous  spectacle  is  not  to  be  witnessed 
at  other  places,  where  "  foreign-fashions " 
have  not  become  popular.  The  motor-car 
is  rapidly  supplanting  the  horse-carriage, 
yet  as  likely  as  not  the  chauffeur  will  be  a 
European. 

To  the  credit  of  Chinese  men  of  all  ranks 
it  is  pleasing  to  say  that  women  were  al- 
ways treated  with  consideration  and  respect 
whenever  they  were  in  a  crowd,  at  the  street 
markets,  temple  gatherings,  theatrical  per- 
formances in  public,  or  any  other  occasion 
when  people  gathered  together  in  great 
numbers. 


PLEASURES   OF   LIFE  107 

A  public  theatrical  performance  in  China 
used  to  be  a  matter  of  great  importance. 
Sometimes  an  official  or  a  wealthy  man 
would  engage  a  company  of  plaj-ers  to  give 
a  performance  for  the  benefit  of  the  public 
at  large.  The  stage  would  be  set  up  at 
any  convenient  spot  (usually  nearby  a 
temple)  and  the  play,  if  one  of  their  old- 
time  historical  dramas,  might  run  on  con- 
tinuously for  days  together.  The  perform- 
ance would  commence  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, continue  until  the  noon  intermission 
for  dinner,  again  until  supper  time,  and 
then  again  until  late  at  night  or  perhaps 
early  in  the  morning  if  an  act  was  so  pro- 
longed. 

To  witness  such  a  performance  was  one 
of  the  few  pleasures  of  women  of  the  lower 
classes,  provided  the  husband  did  not  object 
to  his  spouse  neglecting  her  household 
duties.  Often  the  performance  would  be 
given  in  the  privacj^  of  a  courtyard  in  a 
dwelling  house  or  an  official  residence.  In 
such  cases  the  women  of  the  family  and 
their  invited  friends  would  witness  the  play 
through  a  bamboo  curtain  hung  at  one  side 
of  tlie  courtyards.  The  curtain  did  not  al- 
ways prevent  this  group  of  spectators  being 
seen,  but  it  was  the  proper  thing  for  the 
men  to  see  notliing  of  them  I 

For  girls,  there  were  a  good  many  sports 


108       OUE  NEIGHBOES:     THE   CHINESE 

and  pleasures.  The  little  girls  of  China 
are  just  as  fond  of  dolls  as  are  our  own,  and 
they  are  supplied  with  these  treasures  in 
quantity  and  kind  according  to  the  family 
means.  In  the  house  of  a  wealthy  man  the 
collection  of  dolls  is  often  wonderful.  Un- 
til the  girls  get  to  be  eight  or  ten  years  of 
age,  they  are  likely  to  be  as  big  "  Tomboys  " 
as  are  to  be  seen  anywhere.  They  play  with 
their  brothers  and  boy  friends  in  terms  of 
full  equality.  To  be  sure,  if  there  is  a  baby 
in  a  poor  family  —  and  there  always  is  one ! 
—  it  will  be  tied  to  the  back  of  an  elder 
sister;  but  that  does  not  seem  to  interfere 
at  all  with  the  activity  of  the  little  nurse. 
If  the  baby  loses  interest  in  watching  the 
game  over  her  bearer's  shoulder,  it  goes  to 
sleep  as  comfortably  as  if  it  were  in  the 
most  capacious  cradle  ever  rocked. 

Until  the  girl  is  too  old  to  romp  with 
bo3' s  they  play  together  —  or  separately  if 
numbers  suffice,  at  many  games  that  are 
quite  like  some  our  children  play.  There 
is  one  that  is  called  "  Selecting  Fruit," 
which  is  quite  as  popular  with  girls  as  it  is 
with  boys.  Two  leaders  are  appointed  who 
then  choose,  one  by  one,  all  the  other  play- 
ers. Each  one  must  take  the  name  of  a 
fruit,  and  a  leader  blindfolds  one  of  her 
side.  Then  one  of  the  opposite  side  steals 
quietly  out,  touches  the  blindfolded  player, 


PLEASURES    OF   LIFE  109 

and  returns  to  her  place,  or  —  if  they  like 

—  all  change  positions. 

The  blind  is  now  removed  and  "  It "  tries 
to  guess  who  touched  her,  using  every  arti- 
fice to  make  the  guilty  one  betray  herself. 
All  her  partners  support  her  loyally,  laugh 
when  she  laughs,  look  blank  if  she  does  so. 
After  a  few  minutes  "  It "  must  guess :  if 
successful  the  player  identified  goes  over  to 
'^  Its  "  side :  if  wrong,  "  It "  stays  with  the 
enemy.  So  the  game  goes  on  until  one  side 
is  wiped  out.  There  is  not  space  to  give 
attention  to  any  other  of  these  games. 

The  Chinese  adult  man  takes  his  pleasure 
in  some  ways  that  strike  us  as  being  very 
odd.  Kite-flying  and  fighting  crickets,  for 
instance,  are  sports  in  which  grown  men 
spend  a  lot  of  time,  and  they  waste  a  good 
deal  of  money  occasionally  in  the  latter. 
Goodly  sums  are  paid  for  an  exceptionally 
strong  and  pugnacious  cricket ;  but  it  is  the 
bets  that  deplete  or  swell  the  owner's  purse 

—  in  just  the  same  Avay  as  the  result  of  a 
cock-fight  will  make  or  break  the  owners 
of  the  two  birds  in  tliis  country  or  else- 
where. Chinese  men  rarely  "  treat '"  their 
friends  to  samshii;  but  very  often  at  a 
meeting  in  a  restaurant  or  on  a  "  Flower- 
boat  "  or  at  any  other  place,  one  man  will 
clialleiige  auotlier  to  a  drinking  bout  called 
"  Showing  tlie  Fist.''     Each  puts  one  hand 


110     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

behind  him  and  then  suddenly  they  bring 
them  forth  each  sticking  out  one  or  more 
fingers,  and  at  the  same  moment  shouting  a 
number.  The  object  is  to  guess  the  aggre- 
gate number  of  fingers  thrown  out  b}^  both. 
But  it  is  not  the  winner  who  gets  the  re- 
ward; the  loser  must  drain  a  tinj  cup  of 
samshu.  The  similarity  between  this  game 
and  the  Italian  mora  is  rather  striking. 

Capping  verses,  matching  rhymes,  and  a 
number  of  similar  games  are  the  relaxation 
of  educated  men,  only  again  it  is  not  the 
winner  who  is  rewarded  with  a  cup  of 
samshu  but  the  loser  must  pay  the  penalty 
for  failure  by  drinking  a  cup. 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that 
grown  men  in  China  know  nothing  about 
athletics.  All  the  officials  had  good  train- 
ing in  archery  and  horsemanship.  Many 
of  them,  long  ago,  had  to  learn  how  to  use 
the  old-time  fire  arm  called  "  matchlock." 
Civilians,  too,  were  often  fond  of  exercis- 
ing in  these  ways. 

Young  men  and  others  who  were  well  on 
towards  middle  age,  frequently  played  a 
game  that  would  satisfy  the  most  exacting 
in  the  way  of  skill  and  activity.  All  know 
the  shape  of  a  Chinese  man's  shoes,  that  it 
has  a  heavy  sole  of  felt,  often  two  inches 
thick,  faced  with  leather  and  without  a  heel. 
The  game  I  mean,  which  was  called  "  Keep- 


PLEASURES   OF   LIFE  111 

ing  it  in  the  Air,"  was  played  with  a  shut- 
tlecock made  of  a  piece  of  cork  or  very  light 
wood,  with  small  feathers  stuck  into  it  to 
make  it  sail  true  and  fall  properly. 

The  players  stood  in  a  circle,  and  one 
tossed  the  shuttlecock  into  the  air;  as  it 
fell  he  struck  it  with  the  side  of  the  sole  of 
one  shoe  and  drove  it  towards  another 
player  who  had  to  strike  it  with  his  sole. 
No  one  was  permitted  to  touch  the  shuttle- 
cock with  his  hand.  If  it  fell  upon  his  body, 
or  if  he  failed  in  the  kick  and  the  shuttle- 
cock fell  to  the  ground,  the  player  gave  a 
forfeit.  The  forfeits  were  occasionally  re- 
deemed in  somewhat  the  same  way  as  in  our 
own  games;  but  usually  the  loser  had  to 
drink  a  cup  of  samsliu  for  each  forfeit.  If 
the  game  was  played  at  a  private  party  or 
social  gathering,  the  samsliu  was  provided 
by  the  host;  if  not,  the  man  paid  for  it  him- 
self. 

I  do  not  know  of  any  greater  mistake 
than  some  have  made  about  the  Chinese 
lads  and  boys,  than  to  say  they  were  lacking 
in  games.  If  my  statement  is  not  accepted 
let  the  reader  refer  to  Dr.  I.  T.  Headland's 
a  tijp  Chinese  Boy  and  Girl,"  and  he  will 
be  convinced  that  childlife  in  China  was 
never  utt(^rly  devoid  of  that  pleasure  which 
sports  give.  The  lads  matched  our  boys' 
"  Prisoner's  Base,-'  only  they  called  theirs 


112     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

"  Forcing  the  City  Gates,"  and  in  playing 
it  they  sang: 

He  stuck  a  feather  in  his  hat 
And  hurried  to  the  town 
And  children  met  him  with  a  horse 
For  the  gates  were  brolien  down. 

They  played  "  Tip-cat,"  using  a  block  of 
wood  which  was  tapped  slightly  to  make  it 
jump  into  the  air,  and  then  it  was  struck 
with  a  stick  to  drive  it  "  out  of  bounds." 
Of  vigorous  plays,  calling  for  muscle,  their 
"  Man-wheel  "  is  a  sample  which  proves  that 
the  Chinese  boys  knew  something  more  than 
"  sober  little  games."  One  big,  strong  boy 
stands  up  as  the  Hub;  at  his  sides  stand 
two  middle-sized  boys,  facing  in  opposite 
directions  and  clasping  hands  over  the 
Hub's  shoulders.  Then  two  quite  small 
boys  stand  outside  again  and  face  as  do  the 
Spokes  who  grasp  these  Felloes  by  their 
girdles.  The  Felloes  grip  the  Spokes' 
girdles  with  one  hand  and  give  the  other 
to  the  Hub  around  the  shoulders  of  the 
Spokes. 

Now  they  revolve,  faster  and  faster,  until 
the  Felloes  are  lifted  from  their  feet  and 
stand  out  nearly  at  right  angles  to  the  Hub. 
If  this  game  is  not  vigorous  enough  to  sat- 
isfy the  most  exacting,  I  do  not  know  what 
more  is  to  be  said. 


PLEASURES   OF   LIFE  113 

Since  the  establishment  of  mission  schools 
and  colleges  and  now  that  university  life  is 
an  accomplished  fact,  track  athletics,  boat 
racing,  tennis,  baseball,  cricket,  and  all  the 
sports  of  the  West  are  gaining  in  popularity 
every  day.  In  communities  where  the  Eng- 
lish influence  predominates,  cricket  takes 
precedence;  but  generally  baseball  is  more 
popular  with  Chinese  boys  and  young  men, 
just  as  it  is  with  the  Japanese;  and  the 
former  play  it  with  the  same  zest  as  the  lat- 
ter, although  lack  of  practise  is  seen  in  that 
Chinese  players  are  not  yet  a  match  for 
the  Japanese. 


CHAPTER  IX 

SOCIAL  AND  OFFICIAL  CLASSES 

THEEE  seems  to  have  been  in  China 
from  very  ancient  times,  a  sharp  line 
of  demarcation  drawn  between  the  literati 
and  all  classes  of  society  below  them. 
There  were,  also,  the  ordinary  literary  men, 
those  who  felt  themselves  to  be  officials,  if 
the  course  of  events  turned  out  happily  for 
them;  and  who  were  considered  by  all  in 
the  lower  ranks  to  be  of  the  literati.  Be- 
tween these  and  the  actual  mandarins  them- 
selves, the  division  was  not  so  sharply  de- 
fined. But  there  does  not  appear  ever  to 
have  been  a  time  when  the  merchant  and 
the  trading  classes  were  looked  upon  with 
the  open  scorn  and  contempt  which  was 
shown  them  in  Japan,  certainly  until  the 
early  years  of  the  Meiji  era,  and  which  have 
not  yet  entirely  disappeared  in  that  country. 
Because,  say  what  we  will,  a  civil  official, 
an  officer  of  the  army  or  navy,  and  all  who 
are  not  actually  engaged  in  trade  or  com- 
merce, do  still  in  Japan  consider  themselves 
to  be  superior  to  those  w^ho  earn  money  in 
buying  and  selling.  It  is  but  a  few  years 
ago    that    at    my    own    table   in    Japan,    a 

114 


SOCIAL   AND    OFFICIAL    CLASSES       115 

wealthy  banker,  who  had  large  investments 
in  profitable  industrial  enterprises,  was 
treated  with  chilly  courtesy  by  the  officials 
and  professors  who  were  present,  and  who 
probably  would  have  been  openly  rude  to 
the  "  tradesman  "  had  not  they,  too,  been 
my  guests  and  constrained  to  recognize  that 
all  my  guests  were  entitled  to  courtesy. 

Such  invidious  distinctions  are  not  to  be 
noted  in  China,  upon  the  few  occasions 
when  officials,  military  officers,  educational- 
ists, and  merchants  meet  together.  It  is 
true  that  unless  some  special  reason  appears 
for  such  a  commingling  of  different  classes, 
all  danger  of  something  unpleasant  occur- 
ring is  avoided  by  not  calling  them  to- 
gether. I  am  sure  that  the  difference  be- 
tween Chinese  and  Japanese  ways  is  an 
effect  of  long  experience.  From  time  im- 
memorial the  Chinese  have  been  engaged  in 
commercial  enterprises.  Their  caravans 
went  westward  and  southward  to  meet  such 
companies  from  remote  countries;  and  not 
unfrequently  the  heads  or  proprietors  of 
those  native  caravans  were  entrusted  with 
duties  that  were  often  of  a  diplomatic 
nature.  The  same  thing  may  be  said  of 
over-seas  expeditions  to  the  islands  of  the 
Pacific. 

In  consequence,  such  importnnt  com- 
mercial  men   were   shown   a   degree   of  re- 


116     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

spectful  consideration  which  was  in  a  meas- 
ure reflected  upon  all  reputable  members 
of  their  class.  Furthermore,  the  guild  sys- 
tem in  China  has  for  a  very  long  period 
exerted  an  excellent  influence  in  keeping 
Vesprit  de  corps  up  to  a  high  standard;  so 
that  amongst  all  classes  of  the  Chinese 
themselves  as  well  as  throughout  the  for- 
eign community,  the  word  of  a  reputable 
merchant  is  considered  as  good  as  his  bond. 

In  Japan,  on  the  contrary,  buying  and 
selling  for  profit,  in  other  words  commerce 
and  trade  of  all  kinds,  have  always  had  a 
bad  reputation;  and  from  the  time  when 
the  country  was  closed  to  foreigners,  about 
three  hundred  years  ago,  until  the  reopen- 
ing of  Japan  and  the  entire  reorganization 
of  all  classes,  the  reputation  of  the  merchant 
went  from  bad  to  worse.  There  were  no 
commercial  dealings  with  reputable  foreigi> 
ers  to  improve  this  state  of  affairs  by  the 
force  of  good  example. 

Yet  there  are  social  lines  drawn  in  China 
and  the  man  who  ventures  to  disregard 
them  is  sure  to  meet  with  a  stinging  re- 
buke. I  fancy  that  if  a  well-to-do  fisher- 
man should  persuade  a  go-between  to  ask 
the  hand  of  a  great  Chinese  merchant's 
daughter  in  marriage,  there  would  not  be 
mucli  ceremony  in  sending  the  messenger 
about  his  business;  but  if  the  tables  were 


SOCIAL   AND   OFFICIAL   CLASSES       117 

turned,  and  a  member  of  the  goldsmiths' 
guild  at  Canton  should  seek  an  alliance  with 
the  fisherman's  family,  it  would  be  responded 
to  and  none  of  the  goldsmiths'  fellow  crafts- 
men would  think  their  colleague  had  de- 
meaned himself. 

Again,  if  a  Shanghai  or  Tientsin  banker, 
one  who  easily  has  command  of  several  mil- 
lion taels,  should  presume  to  suggest  an 
alliance,  through  marriage  of  his  son  with 
the  daughter  of  even  a  very  humble  man- 
darin, there  would  either  be  a  row  or  the 
proposal  would  be  treated  with  silent  scorn. 
Whereas,  let  overtures  come  from  the  man- 
darin, or  even  a  provincial  viceroy,  to  the 
banker,  and  all  would  be  well.  The  young 
woman  would  be  accepted  as  a  member  of 
the  social  class  to  which  her  husband  be- 
longed, and  nothing  would  be  said  about  her 
previous  rank  or  lack  of  it. 

As  an  extreme  example  of  what  good,  in 
a  certain  way,  this  obliterating  of  rank 
through  marriage  may  accomplish,  there  are 
plenty  of  cases  on  record  where  Avomen  of 
the  unfortunate  class  have  been  taken  to  be 
the  concubine  of  some  important  official, 
and  eventually  made  by  him  his  "  First 
Wife."  Her  past  was  absolutely  ignored 
and  no  one  ever  dreamed  of  holding  it 
against  her. 

Of  course,  I  have  been  speaking  of  condi- 


118       OUR   NEIGHBOES:     THE    CHINESE 

tions  as  they  were  in  China  until  eighteen 
months  ago.  We  do  not  yet  know-  to  what 
extent  the  reorganization  of  that  country 
may  go  in  obliterating  former  and  time-hon- 
ored distinctions  of  social  rank. 

Until  within  a  very  short  time  the  dis- 
tinguishing mark  between  the  Chinese 
themselves  and  the  Manchus  was  the  small 
bandaged  foot  of  the  Chinese  women.  If 
the  word  caste  could  ever  have  been  applied 
properly  to  the  Chinese  it  would  be  appro- 
priate to  this  custom;  which  results  in  our 
opinion,  as  well  as  in  that  of  the  Manchus, 
in  a  hideous  deformity;  but  from  Peking 
southward,  and  gaining  in  influence  and  ex- 
tent as  one  went  towards  the  south,  it  was 
a  mark  of  gentility.  Even  a  farmer's  Avife 
and  daughters  in  Kwan-tung  province  felt 
that  they  were  out  of  their  proper  class  if 
their  feet  were  their  natural  size. 

I  have  asked  many  literary  men  to  tell 
me  if  the  books  gave  any  information  as  to 
when  this  absurd  custom  was  introduced 
and  why  it  was  done;  but  I  never  got  any 
satisfactory  information.  Some  said  that 
there  was  an  empress  of  the  Chang  Dynasty 
(1776  to  1122  B.  C.)  who  had  club-feet  and 
was  therefore  compelled  to  wear  ill-shaped, 
small  shoes.  She  induced  the  emperor, 
Chung-ting,  to  order  all  tlie  court  ladies  to 
compress   their   feet   so   tliat   theirs   might 


OMKX  irlfh  Small  Fed 


SOCIAL  AND   OFFICIAL   CLASSES       119 

look  like  her  own.  This  was  one  story  of 
the  origin  of  the  custom.  Another  was  that 
Emperor  Taitsong  II,  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty 
was  infatuated  with  one  of  his  concubines, 
Puang-hi  by  name,  whose  vanity  led  her  to 
bind  her  own  feet  in  order  to  enhance  her 
cliarms.  The  emperor  then  made  it  known 
that  all  ladies  should  imitate  the  Beauty, 
and  thus  was  the  custom  established.  But 
I  am  sure  both  these  stories  were  made  to 
order,  and  that  nobody  really  knows  the 
beginning  or  the  why  and  wherefore  of  the 
repulsive  custom. 

The  Manchus  were  always  opposed  to  it; 
but  so  long  as  they  compelled  the  Chinese 
men  to  wear  the  queue,  they  seemed  to  have 
felt  that  they  could  not  very  well  interfere 
with  what  the  women  did.  Yet  a  feeling 
against  these  unnaturally  small  feet  began 
to  assert  itself  amongst  the  Chinese  them- 
selves some  years  ago;  and  in  the  north  es- 
pecially, absurdly  small  feet  or  natural  feet 
do  not  now  mark  so  distinctly  social  classes 
as  they  did  once  upon  a  time. 

There  does  not  seem  to  have  been  in  China 
any  time  a  pariah  class,  like  tlie  Eta  of 
Japan.  If  it  is  true  tliat  those  unfortunate 
people  owe  their  degraded  position  to  their 
occupation  of  handling  dead  animals,  pre- 
paring hides  for  the  tanner,  etc.,  there  could 
not,  of  course,  have  been  any  similar  rea- 


120     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

son  for  the  existence  of  such  a  class  in 
China,  because  the  Chinese  have  always 
been  great  meat  eaters ;  therefore  slaughter- 
ers and  butchers  were  numerous,  and  there 
was  nothing  repulsive  about  handling  dead 
animals. 

Yet  there  are  some  very  low  classes  in 
China.  The  boat  people  of  Canton  are  con- 
sidered, and  justly,  to  be  disreputable  in 
every  way.  The  similar  class  on  the  great 
river  of  the  north,  Yang-tze,  as  well  as  other 
streams,  is  similarly  ostracized.  Along  the 
coast,  too,  there  are  communities  in  villages 
to  which  no  reputable  Chinese  would  dare 
to  go,  and  even  the  officials  venture  only 
when  supported  by  a  gunboat.  Aside  from 
these  classes,  that  are  outside  of  the  pale  of 
good  society,  and  the  distinction  of  the 
guilds,  there  is  not  much  to  say  about  social 
classes  among  the  common  people  of  China. 
The  lines  between  the  guilds  themselves  and 
between  them  and  the  rest  of  the  people 
are  rapidly  disappearing,  so  that  under  the 
good  influences  of  reform  tliat  the  Re- 
public's government  is  promoting,  the  true 
democracy  of  the  Chinese  people  is  likely 
to  reassert  itself. 

The  fact  that  in  China  there  is  not  yet 
that  mingling  in  general  society  of  the  two 
sexes,  which  we  are  accustomed  to  look  upon 
as  one  of  the  charms  of  our  own  social  in- 


SOCIAL   AND   OFFICIAL   CLASSES       121 

stitutions,  must  have  liad  a  great  effect. 
It  drove  the  men  to  seek  amusement  in  base 
ways,  so  that  even  men  who  were  consid- 
ered, in  their  own  society,  quite  moral,  took 
part  in  what  would  scarcely  be  tolerated 
openly  among  us,  or  if  they  refrained  from 
these  they  were  likely  to  dawdle  away  their 
time  in  a  foolish  manner.  Social  stratifi- 
cation was  quite  sharp  enough  to  prevent 
the  search  for  entertainment  in  the  lower 
grade  or  mental  improvement  in  the  higher. 
There  were  not,  until  a  few  months  ago 
one  might  almost  say,  any  political  parties 
in  China  to  exert  an  influence  upon  social 
classes;  but  the  promise  for  the  immediate 
future  seems  to  indicate  that  there  will  soon 
be  plenty  of  them.  Yet  secret  societies  have 
been  in  existence  throughout  China  for  an 
extremely  long  time,  and  in  many  ways 
have  given  a  good  deal  of  trouble.  They 
have  not  marked  any  special  class,  although 
they  have  always  been  a  feature  of  Chinese 
life,  and  in  a  certain  sense  may  be  consid- 
ered as  dividing  the  people  of  the  eighteen 
provinces  into  a  class  opposed  to  the  Man- 
chu  rule.  The  first  of  these  societies  to  at- 
tract official  attention  was  the  famous  Pih- 
lien  Kiao,  or  "  White-lily  Sect,"  which  sub- 
sequently changed  its  name  to  the  Tien-ti 
Jiu'iii,  or  S^nn-hoh  hwni,  the  latter  meaning 
"  Tlie   Triad    Society."     Both   names   were 


122     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

used  until  a  comparatively  short  time  ago, 
the  former  in  the  northern  provinces,  the 
latter  in  the  southern,  and  throughout  the 
East  Indies,  wherever  there  was  a  Chinese 
community. 

It  is  not  certain  that  the  "White-lily 
Sect "  was  actively  connected  with  an  in- 
surrection which  broke  out  in  1803,  but 
since  the  Manchu  government  was  informed 
by  its  secret  agents  that  the  prime  object 
of  the  society  was  the  overthrow  of  that 
government,  it  found  excuse  to  punish  the 
members  as  constituting  a  dangerous  class. 

Amongst  the  oflflcials  there  were  eight 
privileged  classes.  The  privileges  of  the 
imperial  blood  and  connections  of  the  im- 
perial family,  as  well  as  those  of  the  nobil- 
ity, were  the  only  ones  of  importance,  and 
these  went  no  further  than  the  character  of 
punishment  for  offenders.  There  were  a 
few  noblemen  in  the  old  regime ,  but  what 
their  status  will  be  under  the  reorganized 
government  remains  to  be  seen. 

Of  the  officials  below  the  imperial  family 
and  privileged  nobility,  there  were  nine 
grades,  each  designated  by  a  different  col- 
ored ball  at  the  top  of  the  hat,  or  skull  cap 
when  such  was  worn,  and  by  the  embroidery 
on  their  official  robes.  All  literati  below 
the  ninth  grade  were  permitted  to  wear  a 
red  ball  on  the  hat,  sometimes  of  coral,  at 


SOCIAL   AND    OFFICIAL    CLASSES       123 

others  of  cord  twisted  into  a  button.  This 
same  sort  of  button  was  often  seen  on  the 
cap  of  civilians,  but  it  was  always  of 
smaller  size  than  that  worn  by  the  literati 
and  the  Chinese  themselves  readily  distin- 
guished it  from  the  badge  of  the  scholars. 

Those  lowest  rank  literati  w^ere  permitted 
to  have  an  oriole  embroidered  on  the  breast 
of  their  robes,  while  the  unofficial  members 
of  the  famous  Hanlin  college  might  use  the 
egret.  Tliose  officials  constituted  a  very 
exclusive  class,  when  once  they  had  attained 
their  rank.  Nevertheless,  nominally  at 
least,  this  government  service  class,  which 
included  civil  and  military  officials,  was 
opened  to  any  young  man  in  the  empire, 
with  certain  exceptions  on  account  of  lowly, 
rather  degrading  occupation,  and  other  dis- 
abilities which  would  have  been  held  suffi- 
cient to  disbar  him  in  any  country. 

Wliile  not  exactly  a  social  class  unto 
themselves  within  the  precise  meaning  of 
this  chapter's  title,  soothsayers,  magicians, 
geomancers,  fortune-tellers,  and  all  peoples 
of  tliose  kinds,  and  they  are  very  numerous 
in  rhina,  may  be  considered  as  much  for 
sentiment  as  anything  else.  It  was  but 
natural  that  the  Chinese  people,  being  such 
confirmed  ancestor  worshipers  as  they 
were  and  are,  should  wish  to  know  how  it 
fares  with  their  friends  who  have  gone  be- 


124     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

fore  into  the  mysterious  land  which  lies  at 
the  end  of  the  "  Yellow  Road." 

The  priests  were  always  willing  to  pro- 
cure this  information  for  their  parishioners 
and  needless  to  say,  the  character  of  that 
information  depended  largely  upon  the 
amount  of  fee  which  the  enquirer  provided. 

But  there  were  others  who  did  not  belong 
to  the  priesthood  that  were  supposed  to  be 
able  to  pierce  the  veil  of  mystery.  One 
most  effective  way  of  getting  a  direct  an- 
swer to  an  important  question  put  to  the 
gods  or  to  an  ancestor,  was  by  the  use  of 
two  pieces  of  wood.  If  a  slender  and  rather 
long  spinning  top,  without  a  metal  peg,  is 
split  carefully  into  two  equal  parts  they 
will  closely  resemble  the  Ko-pue,  the  acces- 
sories by  which  the  answer  sought  is  made 
known. 

After  the  proper  god  or  goddess  has  been 
decided  upon,  and  of  course  a  priest  is  of 
the  utmost  assistance  in  deciding  which 
deity  is  especially  competent  to  answer,  or 
is  in  closest  relationship  with  the  departed 
ancestor,  incense  must  be  offered  and  a 
quantity  of  paper  money  burnt  to  pay  the 
deity's  fee.  This  money  is  merely  some 
small  squares  of  very  common  paper,  in  the 
center  of  which  is  a  little  dab  of  gold  or 
silver  foil.  Very  often  the  metal  is  base, 
but  if  the  priest  has  been  properly  cared 


> 


SOCIAL   AND    OFFICIAL    CLASSES       125 

for  with  good  money,  the  god  or  goddess 
is  easily  humbugged.  Of  course  the  fee  put 
iuto  the  priest's  hands  is  not  of  this  im- 
material kind. 

At  the  proper  moment  the  suppliant  rises 
from  his  knees,  passes  the  blocks  through 
the  smoke  of  the  incense  sticks  to  endow 
them  with  mystical  power,  and  then  throws 
them  down  in  front  of  the  idol.  If  the  flat 
surface  of  one  comes  up  and  that  of  the 
other  down,  the  answer  is  aflflrmative;  that 
is  favorable.  If  both  oval  surfaces  come 
up,  the  answer  is  negative,  unfavorable.  If 
both  flat  surfaces  come  up,  the  answer  is  in- 
different, neither  good  nor  bad. 

Spirit-rapping,  magical  writing  on  sand 
by  means  of  a  long  stick  influenced  by  a 
spirit,  and  all  the  tricks  of  our  mediums, 
were  known  in  China  thousands  of  years 
before  they  were  used  in  the  United  States 
of  America.  One  medium  frequently  em- 
ployed by  women,  anotlier  woman  it  hardly 
need  be  said,  professed  to  secure  informa- 
tion from  the  spirit  world  by  means  of  a 
tiny  image  made  of  willow  wood.  This  had 
to  be  exposed  to  the  dew  for  forty-nine 
nights  in  order  to  endow  it  with  its  special 
functions,  and  then  when  the  proper  caba- 
listic ceremony  had  been  performed,  it  was 
ready  for  work. 

The  image  was  placed  on  the  medium's 


126     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

stomach,  and  the  woman  then  went  into  a 
trance,  during  which  questions  addressed 
to  the  ancestor  or  the  gods  through  her  were 
answered  by  the  image.  The  trick  of  ven- 
triloquism is  not  very  skilfully  concealed  in 
this  performance.  All  people  of  this  class 
were  reckoned  to  be  outside  the  circle  of 
respectable  classes;  they  were  grouped  with 
actors,  contortionists,  and  all  of  the  kind 
who  entertain  in  those  base  ways. 


CHAPTER  X 

COVET  LIFE:  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN 

IT  is  a  great  pity  that  truth  compels  me 
to  say  the  record  of  Court  life  in  China 
as  far  back  as  we  can  get  anything  like  re- 
liable information  concerning  it,  rarely 
gives  us  a  picture  that  is  satisfactory  in 
any  way.  It  has  already  been  shown  how 
the  dynasties  of  China  were  created,  al- 
ways because  a  preceding  family  of  sover- 
eigns had  grown  dissipated,  weak,  and 
either  incompetent  or  so  thoroughly  bad  as 
to  disgust  the  whole  people. 

Of  the  dynasties  before  the  time  when 
we  are  justified  in  speaking  with  some  con- 
fidence, it  is  useless  to  say  anything.  I 
fear  that  life  at  the  Chinese  Court  could 
not  have  been  very  calm  and  secure  in  the 
seventh  century  before  the  Christian  era, 
because  the  first  of  the  famous  Trio  of 
Philosophers  —  Lao  Tze,  Kong-fu  Tze,  and 
]\Iing  Tze  —  after  holding  the  position  of 
keeper  of  the  imperial  archives,  became  so 
dissatisfied  by  the  disorder  and  riotous  liv- 
ing around  the  tlirone  and  the  general  law- 
lessness of  the  times,  that  he  gave  up  his 
post  and  turned  recluse. 

127 


128     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

Confucius,  that  is  Kong-fu,  in  the  succeed- 
ing century  either  could  not  or  would  not 
put  up  with  the  sensuality  and  debauchery 
of  courts;  for  he  too  gave  up  in  despair  the 
task  of  trying  to  keep  rulers  within  bounds 
of  propriety,  and  he  spent  his  remaining 
days  wandering  from  State  to  State.  His 
opinion  of  the  general  character  of  civil 
rulers  is  illustrated  by  the  story  that  once 
he  heard  a  woman  weeping  and  lamenting 
in  a  bamboo  thicket  by  the  side  of  the  road. 
Seeking  her  himself,  he  inquired  the  cause 
of  her  grief  and  she  said :  "  My  father  was 
killed  by  a  tiger  at  this  spot;  my  only  son 
was  likewise  devoured  by  the  same  cruel 
beast;  and  now  my  husband,  too,  has  been 
slaughtered  in  the  same  way."  "  Then  why 
do  you  not  move  away  from  this  fatal  spot?  " 
inquired  the  sage.  "  Because,"  answered 
the  woman,  "  save  for  the  tiger,  there  is 
peace  here;  and  wherever  there  are  officials 
there  is  none."  "  My  children,"  solemnly 
said  the  master  to  his  followers,  "  remem- 
ber this,  the  ravages  of  a  merciless  tiger  are 
easier  to  bear  than  the  cruelties  of  court- 
iers." 

Commencing  with  the  dynasty  that  was 
established  by  him  who  called  himself  "  The 
First  Emperor "  of  China,  Chwangsiang 
wang,  of  the  house  of  T'sin,  the  account  of 
Court  life  from  one  dynasty  to  another  con- 


COURT   LIFE  129 

firms  entirely  what  I  have  said.  Of  life  at 
the  Court  in  the  city  of  Hienyang,  that  is 
the  Si-gan  Fu  of  more  recent  times,  which 
stands  on  the  bank  of  the  Wei  Eiver,  in 
Shensi  province  I  shall  speak  for  a  moment. 
Of  this  capital  of  the  early  T'sin  Dynasty, 
we  get  but  an  occasional  glimpse  in  the  old- 
est writings,  sufficient  only  to  permit  us 
to  say  that  it  was  licentious  and  oftentimes 
cruel. 

That  there  was  splendor  in  a  certain  way 
is  evident  from  tlie  fact  that  the  palace 
which  Chi  Hwangti  built  at  enormous  ex- 
pense combined  in  style  and  proportions, 
as  nearly  as  possible,  the  features  of  all  the 
royal  dwellings  of  the  kings  who  had  been 
subjugated  by  him ;  and  in  which  he  installed 
all  the  precious  furniture  and  property 
which  those  princes  had  possessed. 

But  the  restless  monarch  appears  to  have 
derived  little  satisfaction  from  his  magnif- 
icent apartments,  with  their  gorgeous  con- 
necting colonnades  and  galleries ;  for  being 
in  constant  dread  of  the  Huns,  that  is  the 
]Mong()ls,  he  was  often  at  the  frontier  super- 
intending the  measures  taken  to  keep  out 
those  would-be  invaders,  and  building  of 
the  Great  Wall  of  Cliina,  which  after  all 
did  not  accomplish  what  had  been  planned. 

Even  this  monarcli's  mad  folly  in  at- 
tempting to  destroy   the  books   containing 


130     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

all  records  of  the  past,  was  unsuccessful, 
for,  as  the  historian  Klaproth*  says: 
"  They  were  not  in  fact  all  lost ;  for  in  a 
country  where  writing  is  so  common  it  was 
almost  impossible  that  all  the  copies  of 
works  universally  respected  could  be  de- 
stroyed, especially  at  a  time  when  the  ma- 
terial on  which  they  were  written  was  very 
durable,  being  engraved  with  a  stylus  on 
bamboo  tablets,  or  traced  upon  them  with 
dark-colored,  permanent  varnish." 

This  great  "  First  Emperor  "  was  an  ab- 
ject coward  in  some  ways.  His  supersti- 
tious dread  of  death  was  so  great  that  he 
was  forever  calling  upon  his  magicians  to 
discover  a  magical  liquor  that  would  at 
least  give  him  a  long  life,  if  it  did  not  secure 
for  him  human  immortality.  One  of  the 
magicians  told  him  he  was  under  the  influ- 
ence of  malign  spirits,  who  were  constantly 
pursuing  him  with  the  design  of  killing  him 
and  getting  possession  of  his  soul  to  tor- 
ment it.  This  charlatan  told  his  imperial 
master  that  the  only  way  he  could  escape 
those  fiends,  was  to  sleep  in  a  different  room 
of  his  palace  every  night,  and  that  he  must 
not,  in  any  circumstances,  let  it  be  known 
beforehand  which  room  he  was  going  to  oc- 
cupy during  the  succeeding  night. 

This  awful  declaration  filled  Chi  Hwangti 

*  Klaproth,  J.,   Mcmoires  sur  I'Asie. 


COURT   LIFE  131 

with  consternation,  and  the  outcome  was 
the  palace  which  has  been  mentioned,  con- 
taining—  besides  the  gorgeous  halls  and 
and  state  apartments  —  so  many  bedrooms 
that  a  stranger  would  have  been  lost  in 
wandering  through  them.  The  Emperor's 
wish  was  to  mystify  the  evil-minded  de- 
mons; but  since  Chinese  are  not  usually  so 
ingenuous  as  this,  some  of  the  writers  inti- 
mate that  the  multiplicity  of  sleeping 
apartments  was  for  the  purpose  of  accommo- 
dating the  great  retinue  of  concubines  and 
ladies  in  waiting. 

There  is  little  wonder  that  the  Chinese 
philosophers  and  historians  dilate  upon  the 
immoral  influence  of  dissolute  women  at 
the  courts  of  their  rulers ;  for  they  were  the 
cause  of  the  downfall  of  many  a  dynasty. 
Yet  it  was  not  because  the  women  them- 
selves were  disposed  to  see  the  dynasty  fall, 
but  the  rulers  themselves  who  became  effete, 
incompetent,  and  careless. 

Nor  was  it  altogether  and  only  at  the  im- 
perial court  that  this  deplorable  state  of 
affairs  existed.  In  the  time  of  the  Han 
Dynasty,  that  which  succeeded  T'sin,  and 
of  which  the  Chinese  were  so  proud  that 
they  delighted  to  call  themselves  "  Men  of 
ITan,"  an  immense  army  of  Hsiung-nu, 
^Mongols  or  ITun  Tartars,  made  their  way 
round  the  western  end  of  the  Great  Wall, 


132     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

and  invaded  what  is  now  tlie  province  of 
Sze-chuen,  from  which  they  were  returning 
with  immense  booty.  Emperor  Kao  Ti  led 
an  army  in  pursuit,  but  the  Mongols  turned 
the  tables  upon  him  and  he  was  compelled 
to  seek  shelter  in  P'ing  (probably  Ping-liang 
Fu,  in  Kansuh  province),  a  city  of  Shansi, 
and  the  besiegers  were  on  the  point  of  ef- 
fecting an  entrance. 

Then  Kao  Ti,  knowing  the  weakness  of 
kings  in  his  part  of  the  world  certainly, 
caused  a  number  of  life-sized  dolls  to  be 
dressed  like  the  most  beautiful  of  the  Chi- 
nese maidens,  and  these  he  posted  along  the 
walls  where  they  could  be  seen  by  the  enemy. 
Then  he  sent  a  secret  message  to  the  wife 
of  the  Hun  chief  to  say  that  these  charming 
maidens  were  to  be  presented  to  her  hus- 
band. The  artifice  was  entirely  successful ; 
the  wife's  jealousy  was  aroused  and  to  pre- 
vent her  husband  being  enamored  of  the 
charms  of  those  Chinese  beauties,  she  com- 
pelled him  to  raise  the  siege  and  retire  to 
his  own  side  of  the  Great  Wall. 

What  a  pity  it  is  tliat  the  whole  record 
of  the  Great  Han  Dynasty  could  not  be  in 
keeping  with  the  beginning  thereof.  In  the 
court  of  the  great  sovereigns  of  the  dynasty 
there  was  splendor  and  there  was  doubt- 
less a  great  deal  of  dissipation,  nevertlieless 
the  character  of  Court  life  was  not  always 


COURT   LIFE  133 

conspicuously  dissolute  in  the  earlier  years 
of  their  rule.  But  the  downfall  of  the  glo- 
rious dynasty  is  marked  by  the  appearance 
of  three  men.  who.  are  known  as  the  three 
greatest  traitors  in  Chinese  history.  These 
were  Wang  Mang,  Tung-cho,  and  Ts'ao 
Ts'ao. 

The  first'  was  an  unscrupulous  minister 
of  Emperor  P'ing  Ti  (A.  D.  1  to  6)  at  the 
very  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  it  will 
be  noted.  He  w^as  weak,  inefficient  and  his 
court  licentious.  Wang  Mang  plotted  the 
usurpation  of  the  throne  for  himself.  At 
the  New  Year's  Day  reception  he  appeared 
with  the  imperial  Princes  and  other  court- 
iers to  pay  his  respects  to  the  Emperor,  and 
the  traitor  put  poison  into  his  master's  cup. 
P'ing  Ti  was  seized  with  violent  paroxysms 
of  pain  and  soon  died  in  great  agony.  Wang 
Mang  feigned  grief  so  skilfully  that  every- 
body was  deceived  and  he  was  able  to  carry 
out  his  traitorous  plans. 

At  his  suggestion  a  child  only  two  years 
of  age  was  raised  to  the  throne,  and  Wang 
Mang  was  appointed  Eegent  of  the  baby 
Emperor,  Ju  Tzu  Ying  (G  to  9  A.  D.).  It 
was  but  a  short  time  until  the  traitor  showed 
his  hands,  and  having  control  of  the  army, 
the  older  i)rinces  and  loyal  followers  of  the 
House  of  Han  could  do  notliing,  so  that 
Wang  Mang  had  liis  own  way  completely. 


134     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

The  baby  Emperor  Ju  Tzu  Ying  was  per- 
mitted to  occupy  the  throne,  nominally,  for 
three  years  and  then  he  was  calmly  set  aside, 
Wang  Mang  openly  assuming  the  title  of 
"  New  Emperor."  He  declared  that  he  had 
had  a  vision  in  which  Kao  Ti,  the  founder  of 
the  dynasty,  had  given  consent  to  his  ac- 
cession; this  was  a  common  subterfuge  in 
China  not  only  then  but  until  quite  recent 
times,  and  it  is  astonishing  how  successful 
the  ruse  often  was. 

There  followed  a  period  of  rebellion  and 
trouble,  until  at  last  the  traitor  was  de- 
feated in  battle  and  fled.  He  was  pursued, 
however,  captured  and  promptly  beheaded; 
his  body  was  cut  into  a  thousand  pieces  and 
his  head  exposed  in  the  market  place  of 
Ch'ang-an,  the  city  where  he  had  tried  to 
hide  himself.  Then  the  Han  Dynasty  was 
restored  in  a  sense,  although  the  new  em- 
perors, not  being  in  the  direct  line,  that 
particular  branch  is  called  thereafter  The 
Later  or  Eastern  Han. 

The  second  of  those  unsavory  characters, 
Tung  Cho,  was  a  general  who  seized  the  im- 
perial power  for  himself,  dethroned  the 
reigning  monarch,  and  placed  a  boy  Prince 
upon  the  throne;  the  cliild  was  Hsien  Ti, 
who  reigned  from  A.  D.  190  to  291.  The 
opportunity  that  played  into  Tung  Cho's 
hands   was  the   confusion   tliat   reigned   at 


COUET   LIFE  135 

Court  because  of  an  attempt  on  the  part  of 
a  faction  to  massacre  the  imperial  eunuchs. 

Hsien  Ti  being  weak,  both  mentally  and 
physically,  his  Prime  Minister,  Tung  Cho, 
actually  ruled  the  empire.  Nominally  pro- 
fessing to  give  his  acts  an  appearance  of 
legality  by  declaring  them  to  be  always  with 
the  consent  and  approval  of  the  puppet  em- 
peror, yet  his  lying  provoked  dissatisfaction 
on  all  sides  and  at  last  he  was  slain  by  one 
of  his  own  officers.  His  death  brought  no 
relief  to  the  country,  or  peace  at  Court. 

The  third  of  the  notorious  traitors,  Ts'ao 
Ts'ao  appeared  before  the  capital,  Ch'ang- 
an,  and  seized  the  throne.  This  act  was  the 
prelude  to  the  confusion  of  the  period 
known  as  "  The  Three  Kingdoms."  The 
interesting  period  in  Chinese  history  came  to 
an  end  with  the  fall  of  that  man  who,  be- 
cause of  his  own  love  of  dissipation  and  the 
dissoluteness  of  his  court,  has  been  given 
the  title  "  Duke  of  Pleasure." 

Thus  the  record  of  all  the  dynasties  is  but 
a  repetition  of  the  same  story.  According 
to  the  Chinese  sages,  so  long  as  rulers  are 
wise,  discreet,  and  abstemious.  Heaven 
prospers  them.  When  they  swerve  from 
the  path  of  duty.  Heaven  promptly  brings 
forward  an  usurper  and  tlie  dynasty  is 
changed.  Even  the  glorious  T'aiig  dynasty 
which  has  alwavs  seemed  to  me  to  stand  for 


136     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

the  highest  glory  of  the  old  Chinese  em- 
pire, although  it  had  some  wonderful  rulers 
in  its  long  list  for  it  commenced  to  reign  in 
618  A.  D.  and  passed  away  with  Liang  Chu- 
tien  in  923  A.  D,,  or  if  we  include  the  after 
T'ang,  in  936  A.  D,,  yet  T'ang  came  to  an 
end  in  the  usurpation  of  the  throne  by  a 
common  adventurer  named  Chu  Wen.  He 
displayed  no  marked  ability  and  the  only 
thing  which  enabled  him  to  grasp  the  reins 
of  government,  was  the  absolute  weakness  of 
the  last  legitimate  sovereign  of  the  house 
of  T'ang,  and  the  terrible  confusion  which 
existed  at  Court  because  of  the  contending 
factions. 

The  patronage  which  most  of  the  Sung 
Emperors  extended  to  arts  and  letters  lends 
to  their  dynasty  a  semblance  of  aesthetic 
glory  which  is  attractive.  It  is  indis- 
putably true  that  the  cultured  arts  throve 
during  the  time  from  A,  D.  9G0  to  1279, 
when  this  dynasty  ruled  over  China.  Life 
at  Court  for  the  most  part  was  an  attractive 
mixture  of  state  affairs  and  dilettante  dab- 
bling with  painting,  poetry,  and  pottery. 

Yet  again  it  was  the  inlierent  weakness 
of  tlie  monarchs  and  the  dissolute  Court  life 
which  brought  the  downfall  of  that  great 
Chinese  dynasty.  For  had  there  been  com- 
petent rulers,  possessing  tlie  confidence  of 
all  their  subjects,  this  dynasty  and  tlie  sue- 


COURT   LIFE  137 

ceeding  allied  one  of  the  Southern  Sung 
would  probably  not  have  succumbed  to  the 
invading  Mongols,  who  in  1260  A.  D.,  estab- 
lished the  Yuen  (commonly  known  as  the 
Mongol)  Dynasty. 

It  was  during  the  reign  of  these  aliens 
that  the  Polos  visited  China  and  were  im- 
pressed by  the  pomp  and  splendor  of  the 
Oriental  Capital,  Cambaluc,  or  Peking  as 
we  know  it.  They  were  amazed  at  the  mag- 
nificence which  was  displayed,  and  which 
was  something  they  had  not  dreamed  could 
exist.  Feasts  and  the  dynastic  as  well  as  the 
national  commemorations  were  celebrated 
with  a  prodigality  that  surpassed  the  wildest 
imagination  of  those  Venetians,  who  were 
not  altogether  unaccustomed  to  display  on 
such  occasions. 

There  were  such  conspicuous  evidences  of 
civilization  in  the  Court  and  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  affairs,  that  the  strangers  were 
led  to  make  comparisons  which  were  just 
as  unfavorable  to  Europe,  as  changed  con- 
ditions three  centuries  later  led  the  people 
of  America  and  Europe  to  look  upon  Cliina 
as  being  altogether  behind  the  times  and  ab- 
surdly conservative. 

In  addition  to  the  seemingly  inevitable 
degeneration  of  tlie  Cliinese  rulers,  in  yield- 
ing to  the  temptations  of  license  of  all  kinds, 
there  was  a  special  reason  for  the  downfall 


138     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

of  the  Mongols.  All  offices  witliin  the  gift 
of  the  sovereign,  whether  purely  civil  or  com- 
bining military  duties  with  those  of  civil 
administration,  were  given  to  Mongols  to 
the  exclusion  of  native  Chinese.  The  for- 
mer method  of  time-honored  sanctity,  of  con- 
ferring rank  according  to  literary  qualifi- 
cations was  ignored,  and  the  true  Chinese 
literati  began  to  complain.  Their  conten- 
tion for  a  proper  share  in  these  offices  was 
supported  by  sufficient  of  the  people  of  the 
eighteen  provinces  to  enable  Chu  Yuen- 
chang  to  expel  the  Mongols  and  establish 
the  Ming,  "  Bright  Dynasty." 

This  was  the  last  truly  Chinese  House  that 
ruled  over  the  people  of  the  Empire.  Again, 
however,  degeneracy  marked  the  rulers,  and 
in  1644  the  T'sing,  "  Pure  Dynasty,"  of  the 
Manchus  was  seated  upon  the  throne  of  the 
Chinese  Empire  and  there  remained  until 
1912.  The  vicissitudes  of  this  dynasty 
have  formed  the  subject  of  so  many  works 
that  it  is  unnecessary  to  rehearse  the  story 
here.  There  were  good  and  there  were  bad 
rulers.  At  times  life  at  the  Imperial  Court 
was  marked  by  extravagant  ostentation 
which  was  amazing  and  thoroughly  distaste- 
ful to  the  majority  of  the  Chinese;  at  other 
times,  so  we  are  told,  retrenchment  and  sim- 
plicity were  carried  to  the  extreme  of  parsi- 
mony, which  likewise  created  a  very  bad 


COURT   LIFE  139 

impression  amongst  those  who  were  asso- 
ciated with  the  government. 

It  would  hardly  be  fair  to  say  that  gradual 
deterioration  w^as  a  marked  characteristic 
of  the  Manchu  dynasty,  for  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  very  last  adult  emperor  evinced 
ability  which  would  probably  have  saved  his 
House,  had  he  been  permitted  to  live  and  to 
carrj'  out  his  plans  for  reform.  Yet  it  must 
be  added  that  it  would  have  been  necessary 
for  Kwang  Ilsii  to  surround  himself  with 
more  discreet  advisers  than  some  of  those 
to  whom  he  was  disposed  to  listen.  Unless 
such  a  course  could  have  been  pursued,  the 
wreck  of  the  Manchu  dynasty  was  scarcely 
to  have  been  prevented. 

Of  the  great  Empress  Dowager,  it  is  right 
to  say  she  showed  at  times  singular  ability 
in  matters  of  state;  at  other  times  incom- 
prehensible lack  of  policy  and  intelligence; 
but  of  her  personal  life  it  is  wise  to  say 
little,  because  there  are  most  conflicting 
stories  told  about  her  in  this  respect.  There 
are  at  tlie  sen'ice  of  those  who  wish  to  study 
the  subject  of  Court  life  during  recent  years, 
at  least  two  books  which  may  be  specially 
recommended :  namely,  Princess  Der  Ling's 
"  Two  Years  in  the  Forbidden  City "  and 
Dr.  Headland's  "  Court  Life  in  China." 
The  former  gives  an  account  from  the  in- 
side; tlie  latter  gives  impressions  from  the 
outside  as  well  as  some  esoteric  experiences. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  EIGHTEEN 
PROVINCES 

THESE  are  the  people  who  are  truly  the 
Chinese.  Whether  they  were  born 
on  the  soil  they  have  occupied  for  certainly 
more  than  twenty-five  centuries,  or  whether 
they  came  from  the  north,  the  west,  or  the 
southwest,  is  now  a  matter  of  small  impor- 
tance to  any  but  the  ethnologist  who  iuvsists 
upon  probing  into  corners  so  filled  with  the 
dust  of  ages  as  to  be  repulsive  to  the  ordi- 
nary reader. 

Yet  there  is  one  statement  made  about 
these  Chinese  which  seems  to  me  to  be  a 
misapprehension.  It  relates  to  what  is 
called  their  oblique  eyes.  One  writer,  who 
should  be  an  authority',  although  some  of 
us  do  not  recognize  him  as  such,  states  that 
the  four  corners  of  a  pair  of  eyes,  as  shown 
in  the  most  ancient  pictorial  or  sculptural 
representation  in  Europe,  may  be  joined 
by  one  horizontal  straight  line;  whereas 
straight  lines  drawn  through  the  eyes  of  the 
oldest  Chinese  appropriate  hieroglyphic 
cross  each  other  at  a  sharp  angle. 

This  is  true  only  so  far  as  it  relates  to  a 

140 


PEOPLE  OF  THE  PROVINCES   141 

picture;  but  inasmucli  as  it  seems  to  imply 
a  difference  in  the  angle  of  the  eye  sockets, 
in  the  West  and  in  the  East,  it  is  misleading. 
An  examination  of  Chinese  skulls  shows 
that  the  eye  sockets  are  set  in  precisely  the 
same  way  as  in  the  Caucasian  skull ;  the  ap- 
pearance of  obliquity  is  due  solely  to  the 
fact  that  the  inner  corner  of  each  upper  eye- 
lid is  drawn  down  somewhat.  Yet  it  is 
strange  how  proud  the  Chinese  seem  to  be 
of  what,  in  our  opinion,  constitutes  almost 
a  deformity,  for  in  all  of  their  graphic  arts 
this  unusual  arrangement  of  the  eyelids  is 
actually  exaggerated. 

In  this  country  we  have  seen  men  wearing 
the  pigtail  and  dressed  in  petticoats;  and 
women  wearing  trousers,  and  we  have  called 
them  all  Chinese.  Well,  tliat  is  quite  as 
correct  as  for  the  people  of  France  to  call 
every  man  who  speaks  English,  un  Anglais. 

But  setting  aside  the  difference  between 
Chinese,  Mongols,  Manchus,  Tibetans,  and 
the  men  from  Dzungaria  or  Eastern  Turkes- 
tan, there  are  some  surprising  differences 
to  be  noted  in  Cliinese  who  come  from  neigh- 
boring provinces;  while  those  who  come 
from  provinces  far  apart,  are  as  different 
as  is  the  Xew  Englander,  wliose  forbears 
liave  l)een  in  this  country  for  generations, 
from  the  ranchman  of  mixed  blood  on  the 
Texan  frontier. 


142     ouE  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

One  does  not  have  to  be  long  in  Hongkong 
to  note  the  difference  between  a  fairly  tall, 
strong  Swatow  chair-coolie  and  the  light 
weight,  weak  Cantonese.  The  people  from 
the  lower  Yang-tze  will  not  long  be  con- 
fused with  those  from  up  the  valley  towards 
tlie  Ichang  Gorge,  by  the  visitor  who  looks 
about  him  carefully. 

In  the  matter  of  language,  the  difference 
between  the  people  of  the  different  prov- 
inces—  and  sometimes  between  those  who 
inhabit  the  same  province  —  is  astonishing. 
I  ought,  no  doubt,  to  use  the  word  "  dialect  " 
instead  of  "  language  " ;  but  when  you  find 
that  an  uneducated  person  or  even  a  fairly 
intelligent  merchant  from  Swatow  has  about 
as  much  difficulty  in  making  himself  under- 
stood in  Canton,  as  w^ould  a  Kentish  farmer 
who  crossed  the  Straits  of  Dover  and  tried 
to  converse  with  the  Normandy  peasants  in 
France,  you  are  disposed  to  imj  that  in  this 
respect  the  difference  seems  to  be  greater 
than  simply  that  of  dialect. 

Yet,  of  course,  the  language  is  fundamen- 
tally the  same  in  Kwan-tung  province,  in 
the  extreme  southeast,  as  it  is  in  Shantung, 
in  tlie  northeast,  or  Kansuh,  far  away  in 
the  nortliwest.  Words  differ  in  pronun- 
ciation, at  first,  and  this  difference  increases 
until  tliere  result  two  words,  having  ideu- 


PEOPLE  OF  THE  PROVINCES   143 

tical  meaning,  but  possessing  not  the  most 
remote  resemblance  in  sound. 

All  this  applies  to  the  spoken  language. 
In  literature  there  is  practically  no  such 
difference.  Books,  the  famous  Classics,  for 
instance,  have  been  printed  in  what  for- 
eigners have  called  the  Mandarin  dialect. 
That  means  simply  that  the  language  and 
locutions  of  literary  men  at  the  capital  have 
been  adopted  as  the  standard  for  the  printed 
language.  Every  educated  man  in  the 
eighteen  provinces  understands  the  Classics 
as  he  reads  them ;  and  his  neighbors  who  are 
equally  fortunate  in  education,  will  under- 
stand him  as  he  reads  aloud.  But  the 
locally  trained  school  man  of  Yunnan  would 
be  totally  incomprehensible  to  his  fellow 
from  Chihli. 

Newspapers,  likewise,  are  not  necessarily 
intelligible  to  people  of  remote  districts  from 
the  place  of  publication,  because  localisms 
are  quite  as  common  in  China  as  they  are 
in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  The  famous 
^'  Peking  Gazette,"  that  was  for  centuries 
the  only  thing  in  tlie  empire  entitled 
to  be  called  a  newspaper,  was  the  official 
organ  of  the  Government,  and  it  was  raul 
hy  officials,  the  literati,  and  educated  men 
ill  all  ])arts  of  tlie  country.  It  contained 
no  ''  news  "  liowever. 


144     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

Besides  his  speech,  "  that  doth  bewray 
him/'  there  is  something  about  the  physical 
appearance  of  the  people  of  the  eighteen 
provinces,  which  seems  to  differentiate  them 
from  those  of  the  remoter  parts  of  even  ad- 
jacent provinces ;  while  every  man  in  China 
knows  at  a  glance  whether  the  stranger  is 
from  the  east,  west,  south,  or  north.  The 
way  in  which  the  men  used  to  have  their 
head  shaved  and  the  queue  braided;  the 
material  and  cut  of  their  clothes,  especially 
the  style  of  their  footwear,  betrayed  the 
visitor  from  a  remote  section. 

Amongst  the  women  there  were  unmis- 
takable differences  in  the  way  the  hair  was 
dressed,  as  well  as  in  the  shape  and  fashion 
of  their  clothing.  I  am  speaking  now  of  the 
people  of  China  proper  exclusively;  in  the 
proper  place  these  distinguishing  peculiar- 
ities of  Manchus,  Turkestanese,  and  all  the 
others,  will  be  discussed. 

In  occupation,  there  was  a  wide  difference 
between  the  people  of  the  various  provinces. 
In  the  silk  district,  it  is  imperatively  neces- 
sary that  the  workmen  shall  become  ac- 
customed to  the  local  way  of  doing  things 
by  long  observation,  before  he  is  permitted 
to  take  upon  himself  the  entire  responsi- 
bility of  the  delicate  operations  of  feeding 
the  worms,  cleaning  the  trays  in  which  they 
are  fed  and  allowed  to  make  their  cocoons. 


PEOPLE  OF  THE  PROVINCES   145 

Then  when  the  time  for  reeling  off  the  floss 
comes,  each  locality  has  its  own  peculiar 
method.  An  expert  Chinese  needs  no  label 
to  teach  him  whence  comes  a  hank  of  floss 
silk. 

The  tea  pickers  of  the  Fuhkien  Province, 
seaport  Foochow,  do  their  work  in  a  different 
way  from  those  in  the  larger  districts  which 
contribute  to  the  business  of  Hankow  on 
the  Yang-tze  River;  and  after  the  leaves 
have  been  gathered,  dried,  fired,  and  packed, 
he  is  but  a  poor  Chinese  who  cannot  tell 
after  his  first  sip  whence  came  the  tea  from 
which  the  infusion  was  drawn. 

We  think,  and  quite  properly,  of  rice  as 
being  the  staple  article  of  diet  for  our  Chi- 
nese neighbors,  but  there  are  many  different 
ways  of  preparing  this  vegetable  for  the 
table.  I  mean  the  seemingly  simple  act  of 
boiling  the  grain,  and  I  think  I  may  almost 
say  that  each  province  has  its  own  rule.  In 
some  it  is  boiled  quickly  with  the  express 
purpose  of  making  it  somewhat  difficult  to 
digest,  so  that  the  hard-working  coolies  and 
laborers  may  not  too  quickly  assimilate  their 
rice  and  become  hungry  before  the  time  has 
come  for  the  next  meal.  In  other  places  it 
is  steamed  so  admirably  that  while  each 
puff'y  grain  is  separate,  yet  tliey  are  like 
independent   snowflakes. 

Tliis  matter  of  rice  cooking;  recalls  to  mind 


146     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

the  Chinese  gourmet.  Please  note  that  I 
distinguish  carefully  between  the  gourmand, 
who  eats  voraciously  of  pretty  much  any- 
thing that  is  set  before  him,  seeming  to  have 
in  mind  quantity  rather  than  qualitj' ;  and 
the  gourmet,  the  lover  of  good  things  to  eat 
but  who  nevertheless  makes  a  dainty  dis- 
crimination as  to  what  he  will  eat. 

Because  we  may  have  seen  a  group  of 
Chinese  around  a  table,  on  which  there  are 
platters  or  bowls  of  queer  looking  stews 
and  vegetables,  shoveling  the  rice  into  their 
mouths  from  little  bowls  held  in  the  left 
hand  and  a  pair  of  chopsticks  in  the  other, 
we  are  not  to  assume  that  all  their  fellow 
countrymen  are  satisfied  to  do  the  same  thing 
with  similarly  coarse  food.  Our  Chinese 
gourmet  has  as  keen  a  palate,  in  his  way,  as 
has  his  French  congener.  Perhaps  he  likes 
to  eat  salted  earthworms,  and  that  is  about 
as  repulsive  a.  dish  as  I  know,  yet  the  Chi- 
nese gourmet  insists  upon  having  his  worms 
prepared  in  just  the  right  way. 

Our  beefsteak  and  onions  may  not  appeal 
to  some  of  our  friends;  yet  it  is  not  every 
cook  who  can  prepare  this  dish  to  suit  the 
taste  of  the  fastidious.  Our  French  neigh- 
bors like  snails,  only  the  animals  must  have 
been  properly  fed  and  skilfully  cooked  as 
well  as  served  to  appeal  to  the  true  French 
gourmet.     So    with    our    Eussian    friends, 


PEOPLE  OF  THE  PROVINCES   147 

they  like  to  preface  a  liearty  meal  with  a 
zakushld,  which  seems  to  mauy  of  us  a  meal 
in  itself.  The  preliminary  of  cold  marrow- 
bones, pickled  herrings,  salted  eels,  caviare^ 
and  thirty  or  forty  other  cold  appetizers, 
serve  to  stimulate  the  Muscovite  palate, 
while  it  so  satisfies  the  stranger,  unaccus- 
tomed to  it,  that  there  is  no  room  for  the  suc- 
ceeding dinner,  a  la  course! 

Our  Chinese  gourmet  seems  to  know  as 
well,  by  intuition  it  almost  seems,  although 
it  is  usually  with  him  just  as  it  is  with  our- 
selves a  matter  of  experience  or  inquiry, 
where  to  go  for  the  best  birdnest's  soup,  and 
which  chef  can  serve  sea-slugs  in  the  most 
tempting  manner.  Is  it  surprising  to  be 
told  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  the  culi- 
nary art  in  China?     Why  should  it  be? 

Now  that  the  Chinese  are  coming  to  be 
greater  travelers  than  ever  before,  because 
of  the  facility  accorded  by  railways  and 
steamers,  it  is  not  at  all  an  uncommon  thing 
for  the  people  of  Kwan-tung  who  go  to 
Chilili,  to  seek  in  the  national  capital, 
Peking,  for  the  restaurant  that  will  cater  to 
their  peculiar  tastes.  Just  as  our  own  lover 
of  terrapin  a  la  Marj/Jand,  would  not  be 
satisfied  in  New  York  or  Cliicago  uidess  he 
knew  his  honnc  houcJie  is  going  to  ])e  served 
in  tlie  projier  way. 

The  most  ehi])orate  native  entertainment 


148     ouE  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

I  ever  attended  was  the  "  house-warming  " 
given  by  the  Taoutai  of  Chowchow  fu,  when 
he  had  completed  his  new  yamen  (official 
residence )  at  Swatow.  As  I  was  only  a  lad, 
fresh  from  home,  his  lordship  asked  the  con- 
sular representatives  of  the  Great  Powers, 
if  he  might  infringe  the  rule  of  precedence 
and  put  me  on  his  left  (the  post  of  honor) 
for  he  had  been  told  I  could  converse  with 
him  in  Chinese.  The  consuls  gave  unani- 
mous consent  and  the  great  Mandarin 
treated  me  to  dainty  morsels  which  he 
picked  out  of  the  common  dish  with  his  own 
chopsticks  (Avithout  rinsing  those  useful 
implements  in  water  after  they  had  been  in 
his  own  mouth),  and  poked  them  into  my 
mouth.  But  of  such  details  I  do  not  care 
to  speak. 

Our  host  was  a  thorough  Chinese  gourmet, 
and  some  of  the  junior  officials  attached  to 
his  Court,  told  me  he  had  sent  to  Can- 
ton for  a  cook  and  his  assistants,  and  that 
most  of  the  materials  for  the  feast  had  been 
brought  from  different  places,  according  as 
the  locality  was  famous  for  this  or  that  deli- 
cacy. This,  I  afterwards  learned,  was  not 
at  all  an  unusual  thing  to  do. 

Our  Chinese  neighbors  are  as  a  rule  well 
built  and  symmetrical,  and  I  think  that  in 
these  respects  they  showed  to  advantage 
when  contrasted  with  our  Japanese  neigh- 


PEOPLE  OF  THE  PROVINCES   149 

bors.  I  imagine  the  difference  is  partly 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  Chinese  have  never 
been  accustomed  to  squatting  on  the  floor, 
resting  the  buttocks  on  the  heels,  as  the 
Japanese  have  done  for  ages.  A  result  of 
this  sincariy  as  it  is  called  in  Japan,  was  to 
check  the  development  of  the  lower  limbs, 
making  the  Japanese  appear  to  be  dispro- 
portionately short-legged.  I  may  remark 
that  the  tendency  to  abandon  this  habit  and 
make  greater  use  of  chairs,  forms  at  schools, 
etc.,  is  having  a  beneficial  result ;  the  stature 
of  the  Japanese  is  said  to  have  increased  an 
inch  or  more  within  the  past  thirty  or  forty 
years,  the  period  during  which  the  better 
habits  of  sitting  rather  than  squatting  has 
become  popular. 

We  may  properly  say  that  the  Chinese 
have  a  yellowish  tint,  and  that,  as  a  rule, 
they  rarely  show  much  pink  or  red  color  in 
the  face.  This  is  not  strictly  true  of  chil- 
dren who  run  about  a  great  deal  in  the  open 
air.  Some  of  the  little  girls  have  a  dainty 
coloring  that  makes  them  very  pretty.  If 
exposure  to  the  sun  has  given  to  some  of  the 
Chinese  in  the  south  a  swarthy  tint,  they 
never  approach  a  black  color,  and  one  of  the 
most  inept,  and  offensive,  words  to  apply  to 
the  Chinese  is  "  nigger." 

Cliiiiese  women  of  the  upper  classes  who 
seldom  go  outside  their  homes,  unless  shel- 


150     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

tered  from  the  glare  and  from  the  public 
gaze  as  well,  in  a  curtained  or  jalousied  se- 
dan chair,  or  protected  from  the  sun's  rays 
by  an  umbrella,  are  often  of  a  very  fair  com- 
plexion. As  a  rule,  the  yellow  tint  nearly 
disappears  in  children  born  to  mixed  par- 
ents, one  of  whom  is  a  Caucasian. 

We  know  that  the  hair  on  the  head  of  a 
Chinese  is  coarse  and  black,  at  least  if  it  is 
not  absolutely  jet  black  it  is  of  such  a  very 
deep  brown  tint  that  it  seems  to  be  black; 
and  the  way  the  people  dress  their  hair  and 
the  use  of  cosmetics  by  the  women  tend  to 
deepen  the  color.  Of  beards  and  whiskers 
the  men  have  scarcely  any,  and  both  sexes 
have  very  little  hair  on  the  body. 

It  was  the  custom,  as  invariable  as  an  un- 
written law,  for  the  men  to  shave  the  face 
completely  until  they  had  attained  the  dig- 
nity of  being  a  grandfather,  or  had  gained 
certain  distinctions  in  the  literary  class. 
In  the  former  case  the  grandfather  might 
permit  his  mustaches  to  grow  although  these 
were  often  what  our  lovers  of  slang  would 
call  "  a  ball  game ;  that  is  nine  on  a  side." 
In  the  latter  case,  since  the  distinction 
rarely  came  until  the  man  was  well  on  in 
years,  a  growth  of  hair  on  the  face  was  as- 
sumed to  indicate  an  old  man,  hence  in  the 
south,  such  men  were  called  laii  elm  nung, 
that  is,  "  old  hair  men.'' 


PEOPLE  OF  THE  PROVINCES   151 

Since  the  Chinese  were  accustomed  to  see- 
ing only  black  hair  and  eyes,  it  was  but  nat- 
ural that  the  light  or  auburn  hair  and  blue 
eyes  of  many  Europeans  should  seem  un- 
canny. In  the  graphic  art  of  the  Chinese 
(as  is  the  case  in  Japan  also)  devils  are  de- 
picted as  having  red  or  blue  bodies  and  fiery 
red  hair;  therefore  it  was  but  natural  that 
the  first  blonde  Europeans  were  called  ang 
mail  Jciii,  "  red-haired  devils,"  or  fan  kwei, 
"  foreign  devils," 

Inasmuch  as  ancient  history  teaches  us 
that  the  immigrating  Chinese  In  the  re- 
mote past,  intermarried  with  the  aboriginal 
peoples  whom  tliey  found  to  the  south  of 
the  Mei-]ing  spur  of  the  great  Yun-ling 
range  of  mountains,  while  those  who  did 
not  come  that  far  remained  more  or  less 
unmixed  in  the  Great  Plain  of  Central  Asia, 
or  even  in  the  western  part  of  what  is  now 
Shansi  Province,  there  is  a  noticeable  dif- 
ference between  the  mixed  population  of  the 
soutli,  if  I  may  call  them  so,  and  the  pure 
type ;  the  latter  are  the  finer  looking  in  every 
way. 

The  almost  total  lack  of  a  bridge  to  the 
nose,  and  tlie  fact  that  the  eyes  seem  to  be 
so  full  and  nearly  level  witli  the  forehead  as 
to  l)e  ratlier  protruding,  emphasizes  the  dif- 
ference between  tlie  Cliinese  and  the  Cau- 
casian,   and    added    sometliing   to    the    an- 


152     ouE  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

tipathy  whicli  the  natives  at  first  felt  for 
the  unhuman  looking  beings  who  had 
sunken  blue  eyes. 

It  is  somewhat  surprising  that  there 
should  be  in  the  extreme  eastern  part  of 
the  great  province  of  Kwan-tung,  a  group 
of  people  in  Chowchow  fit,  prefecture,  who 
compare  favorably  in  stature  and  propor- 
tions with  the  men  from  north  of  the  Yang- 
tze River.  Williams  says :  "  A  thousand 
men  taken  as  they  come  in  the  streets  of 
Canton,  would  hardly  equal  in  stature  and 
weight  the  same  number  in  Rome  or  New 
Orleans,  while  they  would,  perhaps,  exceed 
those,  if  gathered  in  Peking;  their  muscu- 
lar powers,  however,  would  probably  be  less 
in  either  Chinese  city  than  in  those  of 
Europe  or  America." 

I  should  not  like  to  extol  very  highly  the 
beauty  of  the  Chinese  women,  nevertheless 
they  are  not  totally  devoid  of  physical 
charms.  When  the  health  is  good  and  while 
a  girl  is  young,  her  face  is  far  from  being 
repulsive.  One  admirable  effect  of  the 
recent  willingness  to  become  a  part  of  the 
world  and  not  to  be  merely  in  it,  has  been 
a  gradual  disc-ontinuance  of  the  abomina- 
ble habit  Chinese  women  followed  of  shav- 
ing the  face  right  up  to  the  lower  eyelids. 
The  inevitable  effect  was  to  make  the  skin 
like  leather  and  to  stimulate  the  develop- 


PEOPLE  OF  THE  PROVINCES   153 

ment  of  wrinkles.  In  one  respect  our 
Chinese  women  neighbors  are  more  like 
Europeans  than  are  their  sisters  in  India 
and  southwestern  Asia.  They  do  not  fade 
so  soon  and  become  withered,  but  bear  chil- 
dren and  retain  their  vigor  almost  as  do 
the  Caucasians. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  MONGOLS  AND  THE  MANCHUS 

^^T?ROM  an  obscure  and  uncertain  be- 
-t^  ginning,  the  word  Mongol  has  gone 
on  in  increasing  significance  and  spread- 
ing geographically,  during  more  than  ten 
centuries,  until  it  has  filled  the  whole  earth 
with  its  presence.  From  the  time  when 
men  first  used  it  until  our  day  this  word 
has  been  known  in  three  senses  especially. 
In  the  first  sense  it  refers  to  some  small 
groups  of  hunters  and  herdsmen  living 
north  of  the  great  Gobi  desert;  in  the  sec- 
ond it  denotes  certain  peoples  in  Asia  and 
Eastern  Europe;  in  the  third  and  most  re- 
cent, a  world-wide  extension  has  been  given 
it.  In  tills  third  and  the  broad  sense,  the 
word  Mongol  has  been  made  to  include  in 
one  category  all  yellow  skinned  nations,  or 
peoples,  including  those  too  with  a  reddish- 
brown,  or  dark  tinge  in  the  ^-ellow,  having 
also  straight  hair,  always  black,  and  dark 
eyes  of  various  degrees  of  intensity.  In 
tins  sense  the  word  Mongol  co-ordinates 
vast  numbers  of  people,  immense  groups  of 
men  who  are  like  one  another  in  some  traits, 
and    widely    dissimilar   in    others.     It   em- 

154 


THE   MONGOLS   AND    MANCHUS       155 

braces  tlie  Chinese,  the  Koreans,  the  Japa- 
nese, the  Manchus,  the  original  Mongols 
with  their  near  relatives  the  Tartar,  or 
Turkish  tribes  which  hold  Central  Asia,  or 
most  of  it.  Moving  westward  from  China 
this  term  covers  the  Tibetans  and  with  them 
all  the  non-Aryan  nations  and  tribes  until 
we  reach  India  and  Persia." 

When  I  find  that  another  writer  has  said 
something  that  I  know  to  be  true,  but  has 
expressed  himself  better  or  more  succinctly 
than  I  can,  I  feel  that  I  am  doing  my  read- 
ers a  favor  and  paying  the  more  expert  au- 
thor a  deserved  compliment  by  borrowing 
his  words.  This  is  my  reason  for  begin- 
ning this  chapter  with  the  first  paragraph  of 
Jeremiah  Curtin's  book.*  Some  historians 
say  there  are  five  groups  of  Mongols  who 
have  made  themselves  famous  in  Europe; 
although  I  should  be  disposed  to  use  the 
word  "  infamous  "  in  describing  the  Huns 
under  their  chief  Attila,  the  Bulgars,  the 
Magyars,  the  Turks  or  Osmanli,  and  the 
Mongol  invaders  of  Russia.  Other  author- 
ities say  there  have  been  Mongol  people  in 
Africa  from  a  remote  past  and  that  their 
descendants  are  still  to  be  found  there. 
This  may  be  true,  but  I  am  inclined  to  doubt 
the  correctness  of  the  assertion  that  the 
Mamelukes  were  recruited  from  the  Mon- 

*  The  Mongols:      A  History. 


156     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

gols.  It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that 
this  force  was  originally  made  up  from 
Christian  captives  who  were  compelled  to 
serve  their  Turkish  captors  as  soldiers,  and 
afterwards  their  ranks  were  recruited  from 
Christian  families  who  were  living  in  Turk- 
ish possessions. 

The  etymology  of  the  word  Mongol  is  a 
little  interesting.  During  the  reign  of  the 
great  T'ang  Dynasty  of  China,  the  term 
Mong-lcu  appears  as  applied  to  the  people 
north  of  the  Empire,  and  in  the  records  of 
the  Ki-tan  Dynasty  which  followed  the 
T'ang  the  same  people  are  described  by  the 
word  Mong-hu-li.  After  the  Ki-tans  came 
the  Golden  Khans,  and  in  their  annals  the 
Mong-Jcu  are  often  mentioned. 

As  is  the  case  with  so  many  peoples,  the 
origin  of  the  family  into  which  the  great 
Gengliis  Khan  was  born,  was  miraculous. 
A  blue  wolf  and  a  gray  doe  swam  across 
a  lake  —  it  may  be  that  Baikal  is  intended 
—  and  settled  near  the  sources  of  the  river 
Onon.  A  human  son,  Batachi,  was  born 
to  them,  and  then  later,  after  many  genera- 
tions, another  miracle  was  wrought.  A 
widow,  wlio  had  had  two  sons  by  her  hus- 
band, after  his  death  bore  yet  three  more 
sons,  although  there  was  no  man  in  the 
yurta  save  a  slave  whom  her  husband  had 


THE    MONGOLS   AND    MANCHUS       157 

bought  of  a  poor  wandering  beggar  for  a  leg 
of  venison. 

The  two  sons  by  the  widow's  lawful  hus- 
band consulted  together  and  said :  "  Our 
mother  has  no  husband,  no  brother  of  our 
father  has  ever  been  in  this  yurta,  still  she 
has  had  three  sons  since  our  father  died. 
There  is  only  one  man  in  the  house,  he  has 
lived  with  us  always;  is  he  not  their 
father? "  The  woman  having  learned 
what  the  two  elder  brothers  were  thinking 
and  saying,  called  them  together  and  gave 
to  each  one  an  arrow,  telling  them  to 
break  it.  This  of  course  each  one  did  eas- 
ily. Then  she  tied  tlie  five  arrows  together 
and  asked  each  to  try  to  break  the  bundle; 
this  they  were  unable  to  do.  Then  she  said : 
"  Ye  are  in  doubt  as  to  who  is  the  father 
of  my  third,  fourth  and  fifth  sons.  Ye 
wonder,  and  with  reason,  for  ye  know  not 
that  a  golden-hued  man  makes  his  way  to 
this  yurta.  lie  enters  through  the  door  by 
which  light  comes,  he  enters  in  through  the 
smoke-hole  like  sunshine.  The  brightness 
which  comes  from  him  fills  me  when  I  look 
at  him.  Going  off  on  the  rays  of  the  sun 
or  the  moon  he  runs  like  a  swift  yellow 
dog  till  he  vanishes.  Cease  talking  idly. 
Your  three  youngest  brotliers  are  children 
of  Heaven,  and  no  one  may  liken  them  to 


158     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

common  men.  When  they  are  khans  ye 
will  know  this."  It  is  singular  how  widely 
prevalent  this  or  a  similar  myth  is. 

We  are  not  here  interested  in  the  Mon- 
gols as  a  whole,  but  with  a  very  definite 
part  of  them.  The  Tartar  legend  tells  us 
that  in  the  period  which  corresponds  to 
the  year  1161  of  the  Christian  era,  a  woman 
gave  birth  to  a  son,  who  was  grasping  in 
his  fists  a  lump  of  dark,  clotted  blood. 
This  event  happened  at  the  time  when  one 
Temujin  Uge,  a  Tartar,  was  captured; 
therefore  the  child  was  given  the  name  Te- 
mujin. 

He  later  completely  subdued  the  various 
peoples  in  his  immediate  neighborhood 
along  the  upper  courses  of  the  Onon  Eiver, 
which  you  will  find  on  any  really  good  map 
of  Asia,  at  about  110°  East  Longitude  from 
Greenwich,  and  48°  North  Latitude.  Only 
a  short  distance  west,  among  the  Chamur 
Mountains  or  the  Kentai  Shan,  are  the 
headwaters  of  the  Kerulen  River,  another 
stream  which  is  intimately  connected  with 
the  early  history  of  the  Mongols ;  and  in  the 
same  mountainous  district  the  Tula  and 
Orhon  Rivers  rise;  these  last  mentioned 
empty  into  Lake  Baikal  and  thus  find  their 
way  into  the  Arctic  Sea  nearly  opposite  the 
Island  of  Nova  Zembia;  while  the  Onon 
and   Kerulen  eventually  become  the  great 


THE    MONGOLS   AND    MANCHUS       159 

Amur  River  and  tlius  reach  the  Pacific. 
There,  within  reach  of  any  one  of  these 
streams,  is  the  site  which  all  Mongols  honor 
as  having  been  the  birthplace  of  Genghis 
Khan  and  where  his  tomb  is  planted. 

When  Temujin  had  conquered  his  way  to 
fame,  he  took  that  name,  Genghis  Khan, 
and  raised  his  wonderful  standard  of  nine 
white  (yak?)  tales.  Genghis  means 
"  Mighty,"  while  Khan  is,  of  course,  a  title 
having  the  significance  of  Emperor,  and  the 
seeming  proper  name  of  Genghis  was 
adopted  to  distinguish  this  man  from  all  the 
other  Khans. 

Many  interesting  legends  are  told  of  this 
personage  who  was  to  have  such  a  tremen- 
dous influence  upon  the  fortunes  of  our 
Chinese  neighbors,  and  some  of  them  are 
given  here.  When  the  lad,  Temujin,  was 
in  his  fifteenth  year  and  it  seemed  time  to 
think  of  getting  a  wife  for  him,  his  father, 
Yessugai,  went  into  the  countiy  from  which 
the  boy's  mother,  Iloelun,  had  been  taken 
by  capture.  In  the  mountains  he  met  a 
man  named  Desai-chan,  who  was  of  the 
Uigar  stock. 

This  apparent  stranger  hailed  Yessugai 
by  name  and  asked  whither  he  was  going. 
The  answer  was :  "  I  am  going  to  take  my 
son  to  his  mother's  brothers  in  order  to  se- 
lect   a    wife    for    him."     Desai-chan    said: 


160       OUR  neighbors:     the   CHINESE 

"  Your  son  hath  a  comely  face  and  bright 
eyes.  Last  night  I  dreamt  that  a  white 
falcon,  holding  the  sun  and  the  moon  in  its 
talons,  flew  down  to  my  wrist  and  perched 
there.  Thereupon  I  exclaimed  to  some  of 
my  neighbors  who  were  with  me,  '  We  know 
the  sun  and  moon  only  through  our  seeing 
them;  but  now  this  white  falcon  has 
brought  them  both  down  to  me  in  its  talons ; 
this  must  be  an  omen  of  greatness.'  Just 
at  this  auspicious  moment  thou  has  come, 
O  Yessugai!  with  thy  son;  and  thy  coming 
explains  my  dream,  it  foretells  high  for- 
tune, undoubtedly.  I  have  a  daughter  at 
my  yurta,  she  is  yet  young  and  small;  but 
do  come  and  look  at  her." 

Then  Desai-chan  led  Yessugai  and  Temu- 
jin  to  his  camp.  Yessugai  was  greatly 
pleased  with  the  appearance  of  the  girl,  who 
truly  was  a  young  beauty.  She  was  then 
but  ten  years  old,  and  even  among  the  Mon- 
gols, whose  maidens  wed  very  young,  was 
hardly  ready  to  be  given  in  marriage.  Yet 
the  very  next  day  Yessugai  asked  Desai- 
chan  to  allow  Bortai,  that  was  the  girl's 
name,  to  become  the  bride  of  young  Temu- 
jin. 

Desai-chan's  reply  was  both  courteous 
and  diplomatic.  "  If  I  give  her  only  after 
much  importuning,  will  that  indicate  a 
larger   measure    of   importance?     Or   if    I 


M 


AX(  III'  Woman  in  Full  Dress 


THE   MONGOLS  AND    MANCHUS       161 

give  her  to  your  son  in  answer  to  a  few 
words,  will  that  show  slight  esteem?  We 
know  that  a  girl  is  not  born  to  remain  in 
her  father's  home  forever.  I  give  my  con- 
sent to  Bortai's  becoming  Temujin's  wife; 
but  I  pray  thee  to  leave  the  lad  with  me  for 
a  time." 

So  Yessugai  left  Temujin  with  Desai-chan 
and  rode  off  towards  his  own  home,  but  on 
the  way  he  was  persuaded  by  some  Tartars 
to  stop  for  a  feast  with  them.  These  men 
were  his  enemies,  although  they  professed 
for  the  moment  to  be  friendly,  because  he 
had  killed  many  of  their  people,  Temujin 
Uge  amongst  the  number.  Therefore  they 
put  poison  into  Yessugai's  cup,  and  although 
he  managed  to  travel  for  three  days  and 
reach  his  home,  yet  he  died  before  his  son 
Temujin  could  be  brought  to  him. 

Before  long,  Temujin  launched  out  upon 
that  career  which  eventually  made  him 
"  The  Mighty  Khan."  He  passed  through 
a  stormy  youth  and  early  manhood,  and 
was  often  within  an  inch  of  death's  door; 
but  by  marvelous  escapes,  and  frequently 
tlirough  the  assistance  of  friends  whom  he 
gained  in  strange  ways,  he  overcame  every 
opposition. 

To  those  who  stood  in  his  way,  or  whom 
he  suspected  of  opposition  he  was  abso- 
lutely merciless.     A  brother,  a  half-brother, 


162     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

or  any  relative  or  connection  who  baulked 
his  way,  was  as  of  little  account  to  him  as  a 
mangy  dog.  But  to  his  friends  he  was  by 
no  means  without  willingness  to  make  his 
gratitude  something  tangible.  When  he 
had  built  his  great  Empire,  he  richly  re- 
warded those  w^ho  had  helped  him  in  the 
task. 

When  the  proper  time  came  for  Genghis 
Khan  to  carry  out  his  plan  of  invading 
China  he  found  himself,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  attacking  the  famous  "  Golden  Dy- 
nasty," the  Kin,  which  had  been  driven  out 
by  the  Ki-tans.  When  the  Kin  Emperor 
died  in  November,  1209,  his  successor  sent 
an  ambassador  to  inform  Genghis  Khan  of 
the  death  and  the  succession.  This  ambas- 
sador had  the  impudence  to  order  the 
Great  Khan  to  receive  the  message  kneel- 
ing; for  the  envoy  claimed  that  Genghis 
was  a  vassal,  and  should  comport  himself 
in  accordance  with  Chinese  etiquette. 

At  this  piece  of  audacity  Genghis  de- 
manded: "Who  is  this  new  emperor?" 
The  reply  was,  with  a  display  of  honorific 
titles  which  may  be  imagined,  "  Prince 
Chong-hei."  When  Genghis  heard  the 
name  he  was  simply  furious,  and  turning 
his  face  towards  the  south,  in  which  direc- 
tion the  new  upstart  dwelt,  he  spat  upon 
the  ground  and  exclaimed :  "  I  thought  that 


THE   MONGOLS   AND    MANCHUS       163 

the  Son  of  Heaven  must  be  lofty  and  un- 
common ;  but  how  is  this  idiot  Cliong-hei  to 
sit  on  a  throne,  and  why  shouhl  I  lower 
myself  even  in  his  presence,  much  less  to 
his  petty  ambassador?" 

Preparations  for  the  invasion  were  speed- 
ily completed  and  the  composition  of  the 
army  indicates  most  clearly  what  efiflcient 
strategists  and  commissaries  those  Mongol 
leaders  were.  The  troops  were  divided  in- 
to squads  of  ten  each;  ten  of  these  squads 
were  formed  into  one  company;  ten  com- 
panies composed  what  we  may  call  a  regi- 
ment; and  t«n  regiments,  that  is  to  say, 
ten  thousand  warriors,  made  a  brigade. 
The  orders  of  the  supreme  Khan  were 
given  direct  to  the  generals  in  command  of 
brigades;  and  by  them  passed  to  officers  of 
lower  rank  until  they  reached  even  to  the 
petty  squad. 

Each  soldier  wore  armor  made  of  strong 
rawhide  and  his  head  was  protected  by  a 
stout  helmet  of  similar  material.  His  weap- 
ons were  a  lance,  a  sabre,  a  bow  and 
quiver,  while  some  of  them  bore,  in  addi- 
tion, an  ax  which  could  be  used  in  battle 
as  well  as  to  cut  wood  as  necessity  arose. 

1  besides  the  liorses  supplied  for  the  troops 
tliere  were  many  extra  steeds,  because  the 
army,  after  leaving  headquarters,  had  to 
cross  a  wide  stretch  of  tlie  desert.     Tlie  in- 


164       OUR  NEIGHBOES:     THE   CHINESE 

vaders  probably  took  a  route  that  was 
nearly  parallel  to  the  great  caravan  road 
that  has  been  used  by  the  Chinese  and  Rus- 
sians in  passing  between  Peking  and  Lake 
Baikal. 

After  a  march  of  something  like  twelve 
hundred  miles  the  frontier  was  reached, 
and  here  became  conspicuous  the  first  of  the 
defections  which,  contributed  so  much  to 
the  downfall  of  the  Chinese  government. 
The  officer  in  charge  of  the  guard  at  the 
Great  Wall  yielded  allegiance  to  Genghis 
Khan  and  opened  the  gates  to  the  invading 
army.  It  is  not  necessary  here  to  recapitu- 
late the  story  of  the  downfall  of  the  Chinese 
Dynasty  and  the  establishment  of  the  Mon- 
gols. 

Tliis  great  country,  Mongolia,  stretches 
from  the  west,  where  it  marches  with  the 
Russian  Central  Asia  provinces,  eastward 
between  Siberia  and  Tibet  and  China 
proper,  until  it  reaches  the  Eastern  Three 
Provinces,  which  we  know  by  the  name  of 
Manchuria.  Most  of  Mongolia  is,  to  say 
the  least,  unattractive.  But  from  about 
the  middle  of  the  northern  line  towards  the 
east  and  stretching  down  to  the  Chinese 
frontier  the  character  of  the  soil  improves, 
and  in  the  extreme  eastern  section  there  are 
wide  grassy  plains  whicli  are  well  suited  to 
maintain  enormous  flocks  and  herds;  while 


l.\(  nr  (,r!s}ia 


THE   MONGOLS   AND   MANCHUS       165 

along  the  numerous  streams  there  is  abun- 
dant arable  land. 

Of  the  Manchurians  it  is  not  necessary 
to  say  very  much,  because  they  are,  after  all, 
merely  an  offshoot  of  the  great  Tartar  or 
Mongolian  Horde.  Their  history  is  an  in 
teresting  example  of  how  from  a  very  small 
beginning  something  of  enormous  propor- 
tions may  develop.  We  must,  however, 
bear  in  mind  that  had  the  Chinese  dynasty, 
the  Ming,  been  able  to  hold  the  allegiance 
of  the  hundreds  of  millions  of  true  Chinese, 
and  had  there  not  been  contemptible  trea- 
son on  the  part  of  some  of  the  imperial 
generals,  there  would  not  have  been  the 
same  easy  victory  for  the  Manchus  in  gain- 
ing possession  of  the  whole  Chinese  Empire, 
that  there  had  been  for  their  kinsmen,  the 
Mongols,  in  doing  the  same  thing  three  cen- 
turies before. 

Manchuria  itself  is  a  most  valuable  part 
of  the  Chinese  Eepublic.  This  fact  is  dem- 
onstrated by  the  eager  desire  displayed  by 
the  Russians  in  gaining  a  foothold  there, 
and  later  by  the  efforts  of  the  Japanese  to 
imitate  their  late  rivals  in  war.  In  the 
neighborhood  of  the  capital  of  the  Eastern 
Three  Provinces,  Mukden,  there  are  still  to 
be  seen  the  tombs  of  some  of  the  earliest 
rulers  of  tlie  ^Manchus.  For  the  tourist  bent 
merely  upon  sight-seeing  and  for  the  student 


166     OUR  neighbors:    the  chine^^ 

of  ethnology;  as  well  as  for  the  commercial 
man,  there  are  so  many  attractive  things 
about  the  portion  of  our  Chinese  neighbors 
which  inhabit  Manchuria,  that  it  is  not  sur- 
prising so  many  people  have  gone  there. 

The  pure  Mongolians  and  Manchus 
(there  are  not  many  of  them,  to  be  sure), 
do  not  show  the  oblique  eyes  quite  so 
markedly  as  do  the  true  Chinese,  that  is, 
the  people  of  the  Eighteen  Provinces.  As 
a  rule  these  northern  people  are  rather 
larger  and  better  proportioned  than  the 
southern  Chinese,  and  in  many  ways  they 
show  the  good  effect  of  an  active,  outdoor 
life.  The  costumes  of  all  these  Mongolians 
and  Manchurians  are  entirely  different 
from  those  of  their  Chinese  fellow  citizens, 
conspicuously  so  in  the  winter,  when  a 
rigorous  climate  compels  them  to  wear 
thick,  wadded  clothing  and  very  often  furs. 
A  Manchurian  woman's  way  of  dressing  the 
hair  is  unmistakable;  it  sets  her  off  from 
her  Chinese  sisters  most  conspicuously ;  and 
the  same  tiling  may  be  said  of  the  native 
women  of  Mongolia. 


.i;> 


M 


A.\(  I/r  Married  Woman:  Ihe 
Headdress  I ndicafes  the  Fact 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  TIBETANS  AND  THEIR  COUNTEY 

DR.  SVEN  REDIN'S  interesting  ac- 
counts of  his  exploration  into  the  cen- 
tral parts  of  Asia  and  across  the  Himalayas, 
give  us  the  most  complete  account  of  Tibet 
which  is  available.  I  do  not  wish  to  belittle 
that  explorer's  work  in  any  way,  but  in 
fairness  to  others  I  may  say  that  a  number 
of  British  subjects,  who  have  been  con- 
nected with  the  Indian  Civil  Service,  as  well 
as  many  army  officers  Avho  have  been  sta- 
tioned in  those  parts  of  the  British  Em- 
pire, have  told  me  that  all  of  the  important 
information  which  Dr.  Iledin  has  imparted 
to  the  public  had  been,  for  some  years 
before  he  undertook  his  exploration,  in  the 
archives  of  the  Indian  Government, 

Inasmuch  as  it  was  taken  from  the  re- 
ports of  officials  or  army  officers  who, 
strictly  speaking,  perhaps  ouglit  not  to  have 
been  in  Tibet  at  all,  this  information  could 
not  be  given  to  the  public;  and  the  alle- 
giance of  the  individuals  who  had  collected 
the  material  forbade  their  writing  for  gen- 
eral publication.  Even  as  it  is,  we  really 
know    verv    liltle    about  the   Tibetans   and 

167 


168     ouE  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

probably  shall  not  greatly  increase  our 
knowledge  until  the  Chinese  Republic  or 
Government  has  advanced  so  far  along  the 
paths  that  it  is  cutting  out,  parallel  to  what 
the  rest  of  the  world  has  followed  for  a 
thousand  years  or  more,  as  to  permit  of 
their  opening  freely  every  nook  and  corner 
of  this  great  domain. 

Looking  from  the  south  up  towards  the 
mighty  Himalaya  Mountains,  they  appear 
in  their  greatest  grandeur.  Those  who 
have  been  able  to  gaze  upon  this  range  from 
the  north,  say  that  they  seem  to  lose  much 
of  their  impressiveness  because  they  are 
seen  from  the  elevation  of  Tibet,  "  The  Eoof 
of  the  World." 

In  that  country,  whose  average  elevation 
is  so  great  that  were  it  not  for  its  proximity 
to  the  Torrid  Zone,  it  would  be  snow  cov- 
ered perennially,  live  some  people  who  are 
in  many  ways  the  strangest  in  the  world, 
and  certainly  the  most  uncommon  and  un- 
familiar to  all  of  us  of  the  whole  three  or 
four  hundred  millions  who  make  up  the  en- 
tire population  of  the  Chinese  Eepublic. 

It  is  undoubtedly  correct  to  put  the 
Tibetans  into  the  Mongoloid  family  of  hu- 
man beings,  although  the  distinguishing 
characteristics  of  this  class  are  rather  less 
noticeable  in  them  than  in  any  of  tlie  others 
of  the  Chinese  nation.     This  slight  varia- 


THE   TIBETANS   AND    COUNTRY       169 

tion  is  doubtless  due  to  the  infiltration  of 
an  East  Indian  strain  through  the  Him- 
alayas and  around  the  western  end  of  that 
range.  Doubtless,  too,  some  influence  has 
been  made  by  the  people  of  southeast  Asia. 

It  is  not  recorded  in  reliable  history  that 
any  one  body  of  human  beings  has  been  per- 
mitted to  develop  itself  in  a  constant  phy- 
sical environment,  from  the  "  beast  stage," 
or  even  the  lowest  "  man  stage,"  up  to  its 
present  condition;  and  the  Tibetans  are 
probably  not  the  exception  which  is  sup- 
posed to  prove  the  general  rule.  It  is  but 
natural  to  find  the  Tibetans  of  rather  small 
stature,  yet  they  are  said  to  be  generally 
stout  and  stocky.  In  such  a  rigorous  cli- 
mate, it  could  hardly  be  expected  that  any 
but  the  physically  fitted  children  should 
survive. 

The  most  remarkable  thing  about  the 
Tibetans  is  their  marriage  custom.  We 
know  well  what  monogamy  is,  the  union  in 
marriage  of  one  man  and  one  woman,  and 
in  our  own  experience,  as  an  inheritance 
from  our  European  ancestors,  what  is 
called  the  "  father's  right,"  that  is  the  tra- 
cing of  ancestors  back  through  the  father's 
line.  AVe  know,  also,  from  biblical  reading 
and  from  knowledge  of  customs  in  certain 
lands  of  polygamy;  tliat  is  a  plurality  of 
wives,  sometimes  all  of  equal  rank  although 


170       OUE  NEIGHBOES;     THE   CHINESE 

more  frequently  one  is  the  superior  and  the 
rest  are  subordinate.  We  know,  too,  of 
concubinage,  sometimes  without  disgrace, 
yet  frequently  otherwise. 

But  in  Tibet  all  these  conditions  are  re- 
versed and  the  plurality  in  marriage  is  of 
the  men,  the  single  one  being  the  wife. 
This  extraordinary  condition  comes  about 
not  altogether  unnaturally,  when  we  stop 
and  consider  the  circumstances  in  which  it 
has  developed.  In  all  the  463,200  square 
miles  of  Tibet,  there  are  but  very  few  acres 
of  arable  land.  A  farmer,  as  the  word 
means  to  us,  is  simply  unknown.  The  cul- 
tivated land  is  all  in  little  patches  which 
we  should  hardly  dignify  by  the  name  of 
"  field." 

What  fields  there  are  lie  along  the  foot 
of  the  mountains  in  some  spot  where  the 
patch  may  be  protected  from  the  torrents 
pouring  down  the  mountainside,  and  from 
the  overflow  of  the  stream  which  rushes 
along  at  the  bottom  of  the  mountain  valley. 
A  tremendous  amount  of  labor  is  repre- 
sented in  one  of  those  tiny  patches;  the  lower 
portion  is  defended  against  the  stream  by 
a  high  wall  built  of  stone;  and  it  must  be 
tall  enough  to  be  above  the  highest  flood 
level.  But  some  water  for  the  crop  of 
wheat,  or  beans,  or  whatever  it  may  be,  is 
necessary,   and   a   considerable   measure   of 


THE    TIBETANS    AND    COUNTRY       171 

engineering  skill  is  displayed  in  conduct- 
ing an  irrigating  stream  into  the  field 
without  permitting  the  rush  of  water  to 
be  a  menace. 

A  glance  at  the  map  will  show  how  ex- 
ceedingly limited  must  be  the  area  of  cul- 
tivable land  in  Tibet.  Now  suppose  a  man 
has  one  such  field,  or  possibly  two  or  three 
of  these  tiny  patches,  just  enough  land  to 
supply  the  wants  of  one  family;  and  sup- 
pose, further,  that  the  man  has  three  sons 
—  hj  no  means  an  unusual  number  in  Tibet. 
When  the  father  dies,  if  the  land  is  divided 
amongst  the  three  sons  and  each  takes  unto 
himself  a  wife  and  rears  a  family,  there  will 
be  three  households  to  starve. 

It  is  impossible  to  divide  the  landed  es- 
tate and  the  Tibetans  have  solved  a  difficult 
problem  by  adopting  polyandry:  that  was 
inevitable.  "  In  highly  developed  societies, 
polygamy  (including  concubinage)  sug- 
gests concentrated  wealth  and  privilege. 
Monogamy  is  democratic ;  it  suggests  divided 
property  and  privilege.  Polyandry  sug- 
gests poverty  and  indivisibility  of  prop- 
erty." The  Tibetans  are  loath  to  move 
away  from  the  ancestral  home;  and  in  the 
case  of  the  three  brothers  which  has  been 
assumed,  either  two  must  do  that  or  they 
must  give  up  the  pri\'ileges  and  responsibili- 
ties of  a  monogamous  marriage. 


172       OUR   NEIGHBOES:     THE    CHINESE 

Doubtless  experience  in  long  past  times 
taught  their  ancestors  that  three  families 
in  one  home  invariably  lead  to  all  manner 
of  complications  and  almost  inevitably  to 
crimes,  such  as  infanticide,  as  well  as  dis- 
ease, and  some  things  morally  worse  that 
need  not  be  discussed  here.  "  Amongst  the 
Tibetans,  the  property,  as  an  indivisible 
whole,  goes  to  the  eldest  son,  who  is  pro- 
vided with  a  wife ;  but  that  wife  becomes  also 
the  legal  spouse  of  the  younger  brothers. 
The  children  of  this  woman  are  the  objects 
of  a  common  affection,  and  when  one  of  her 
sons  shall  have  grown  to  full  manhood,  and 
shall  have  married  a  wife  chosen  by  his 
parents,  he  in  turn  shall  come  into  a  pri- 
macy of  power  over  the  patrimony,  his 
elders  reserving  just  enough  to  prolong 
their  habitual  comfort  —  not  enough  to 
prevent  the  establishment  of  a  new  genera- 
tion. And  thus,  indefinitely,  the  cycle  re- 
peats itself;  not  less  regularly  —  not  less 
blindly,  obeying  nature's  demand  for  the 
new  individuals,  than  elsewhere  in  more 
favored  lands,  by  other  forms."  * 

Eepulsive  as  is  this  polyandry  to  our 
every  idea  of  what  married  life  and  the 
creation  of  a  home  should  naturally  be,  yet 
if  one  tries  earnestly  to  put  himself  into 
the  i)osition  of  the  Tibetans  and  knows  the 

*  Crosby,  Oscar  Terry,  Tibet  and  Turkestan. 


THE   TIBETANS   AND   COUNTRY       173 

starved  conditions  of  their  life  in  its  com- 
mon aspects,  it  has  to  be  admitted  that  they 
have  arrived  at  a  solution  of  a  problem 
which  is  not  altogether  to  be  condemned. 

Yet  there  is  another  phase  of  the  Tibetan 
married  life  which  is  inexcusably  repulsive, 
for  it  unites  polyandry  and  polygamy  in 
the  most  shameless  manner.  If  some  great 
good  fortune  should  come  to  the  family,  so 
that  the  joint  income  permits,  the  eldest 
brother  may  take  a  second  or  even  a  third 
wife.  It  may  happen,  too,  that  a  second 
w^ife  is  intiM^duced,  even  when  the  family 
property  has  not  been  increased  at  all;  this 
will  sometimes  occur  when  the  first  wife  has 
no  children.  For  the  continuance  of  the 
family  line  is  deemed  of  almost  as  great  im- 
portance among  the  Tibetans  as  it  is  with 
the  Chinese,  although  the  former  are  not 
in  any  way  inspired  with  the  Confucian 
ideas  of  the  importance  of  ancestral  wor- 
ship. Tliese  plural  wives  are  still  common 
to  all  the  brothers,  and  for  some  almost  in- 
explicable reason,  the  increase  of  popula- 
tion is  less  in  Tibet  than  in  countries  where 
monogamy  or  polygamy  is  the  rule. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  with  which 
women  are  so  intimately  connected,  it 
seems  well  to  state  that  the  Tibetans  of  the 
fair  sex  are  by  no  means  without  title  to 
that  adjective.     They  are  reported  as  being 


174     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

of  good  proportions,  gi'aceful  build,  and 
comely  features.  Their  costume  is  a  simple 
one,  even  if  they  display  a  fondness  for 
bright-hued  materials.  Where  frequent 
contact  with  the  Chinese  on  one  side  or  the 
peoples  of  India  on  the  other  is  noticeable, 
there  will,  too,  be  noted  a  disposition  to 
imitate  the  dress  of  the  strangers.  This 
remark  applies  to  the  men  as  well  as  to 
the  women,  for  in  eastern  Tibet  there  are 
natives  to  be  seen  who  have  adopted  the 
Chinese  queue;  but  whether  this  was  a 
matter  of  policy  or  merely  a  desire  to  be 
ultra  fashionable,  I  cannot  say. 

In  certain  parts  of  Tibet  a  great  many 
turquoises  are  found.  Some  are  of  good 
size  and  great  beauty;  but  as  a  rule  they 
are  small  and  not  costly;  therefore  the 
women,  even  those  who  seem  to  be  of  such 
poor  classes  as  hardly  to  be  able  to  aif  ord 
this  extravagance,  deck  their  hair  with  as 
many  of  these  precious  stones  as  they  can 
get. 

The  dwellings  of  the  Tibetans  vary  from 
a  hovel  to  a  fairly  large,  rather  imposing 
edifice  two  stories  in  height;  but  all  are 
solidly  built,  as  must  be  the  case  in  a  coun- 
try where  the  winter's  snows  are  deep  and 
lie  long.  It  must  be  a  curious  sight  to  see 
from  nearly  every  dwelling,  floating  a  flag 
wliicli  is  not  in  any  way  a  national  emblem 


THE   TIBETANS   AND    COUNTEY       175 

or  ensign,  but  simply  a  popular  way  of  keep- 
ing the  gods  constantly  informed  of  the  in- 
mates of  the  home  desiring  to  pray  to  them ; 
for  the  flag  bears  a  prayer  written  so 
closely  as  to  cover  the  entire  surface.  The 
petition,  therefore,  is  measured  by  the  size 
of  the  flag. 

In  Tibet  the  curious  "  prayer-wheel "  is 
very  common.  This  is  a  wheel  on  the  folly 
of  which  are  pasted  small  bits  of  paper  hav- 
ing a  prayer  written  on  them :  one  whirl 
of  the  wheel  is  sufficient  to  inform  the  gods 
that  the  person  has  offered  just  that  num- 
ber of  petitions. 

The  monasteries  of  Tibet  are  still  most 
imposing-looking  structures.  They  are  usu- 
ally built  on  the  side  of  a  steep  hill  or 
mountain,  so  that  the  lower  side  will  tower 
up  to  many  stories,  while  the  upper  is  only 
two  or  three.  The  most  celebrated  of  the 
Lhasa  monasteries  has  been  reproduced  in 
facsimile  by  the  Mongolians  at  Jehol 
(Cheng-te)  in  the  province  of  Chihli,  north- 
east of  Peking. 

This  remark  naturally  draws  attention  to 
the  religion  of  the  Tibetans,  and  it  is  of 
somewliat  peculiar  interest  because  it  is  the 
direct  or  indirect  power  of  the  religionists 
which  has  tended  as  much  as  anything  else 
to  keep  Tibet  a  closed  country  against  the 
student   and   traveler.     The   Tibetan   Bud- 


176     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

dhist  priests  maintain  stoutly  that  in  their 
country  has  been  preserved  the  only  pure 
Buddhism  that  now  exists.  They  declare 
that  what  is  taught  in  Ceylon  even  is  so 
far  from  the  teachings  of  the  Buddha  him- 
self as  to  be  unrecognizable. 

This  claim  is  utterly  false,  for  the  doc- 
trines, already  much  corrupted,  which  were 
carried  into  Tibet  a  thousand  years  after 
Gautama's  death,  have  been  still  further 
corrupted.  Competent  students  of  com- 
parative religion  find  that  in  Tibet  the 
original  impersonal  generalization  of  the 
Buddha  have  been  almost  smothered  by  a 
mass  of  alien  beliefs  in  no  way  connected 
with  ideal  Buddhism.  Moral  qualities 
have  grown  to  be  gods  who  are  given  their 
place  in  the  overcrowded  pantheon;  and  so 
called  "  Emanations "  from  the  original 
founder  or  his  special  disciples,  have  been 
individualized,  and  then  those  persons 
canonized. 

The  Romish  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception  has  been  applied  to  make  the 
mother  of  Prince  Siddartha  equal,  in  the 
matter  of  her  conception,  with  that  which 
the  strictest  Romanists  claim  for  the  Virgin 
Mary;  and  Queen  Maya  is  declared  by 
some  of  the  Tibetans  to  have  been  herself 
of  Virgin  birth. 


THE   TIBETANS   AND   COUNTRY      177 

It  is  certain  that  wliat  little  is  left  of 
Buddhism  in  India  is  radically  different 
from  what  the  earliest  literature  teaches; 
while  Buddhism  in  China  has  widely  di- 
verged from  the  Master's  teachings;  and 
that  of  Japan  is  scarcely  recognizable  as 
real  Buddhism.  The  Buddhists  of  Tibet 
are  now  generally  called  Lamaists,  the 
strictest  being  loyal  adherents  of  the  Dalai 
Lama  officially,  for  personally  that  individ- 
ual has  often  conducted  himself  in  such  a 
way  as  to  forfeit  the  respect  of  his  coun- 
trymen. 

The  other  religious  body  of  real  impor- 
tance in  Tibet  is  one  that  is  called  Pon-bo. 
This  last  mentioned  combines  in  a  strange 
way  the  superstitions  of  an  old  Nature- 
worship  with  some  of  the  lower,  grosser  ele- 
ments of  Lamaism.  Mr.  Crosby*  not  at  all 
ineptly  says  that  the  relation  of  the  two 
bodies  is  similar  to  that  which  might  have 
been  seen  in  Europe  as  late  as  the  sixth 
century  after  Christ,  when  there  still 
existed  communities  professing  the  ancient 
paganism,  while  enthroned  Christianity  had 
not  been  able  to  free  itself  from  a  heritage 
of  magic,  witchcraft,  and  devil  cult,  and  had 
shifted  the  worsliip  of  the  Finite  from  demi- 
gods to  saints.     But  in  Europe  at  that  time, 

*  Op.  cit. 


178       OUR   NEIGHBOKS:     THE    CHINESE 

as  in  Tibet  now,  there  were  seen  a  very 
few  who  drank  such  pure  water  as  the 
higher  creed  may  offer  to  the  most  en- 
lightened. 

The  eastern  part  of  Tibet  is  still  closed 
to  the  ordinary  traveler,  so  that  access  to 
the  country,  east  of  about  the  longitude  of 
Lhasa,  from  the  north,  east,  or  south,  is 
practically  impossible.  It  is  not  difficult 
for  almost  any  one  who  chooses  to  do  so  to 
get  into  the  extreme  western  part  of  the 
country.  In  each  village  of  that  section 
there  is  an  inn,  or  some  proper  place  for 
strangers  to  lodge,  and  it  is  quite  easy  to 
procure  an  abundant  supply  of  food.  Not 
always  meats,  but  coarse  bread,  milk, 
chickens,  and  eggs  are  plentiful,  and  there 
is  said  to  be  no  displeasing  attempt  to 
practise  extortion. 

The  people  are  inquisitive  and  certainly 
would  like  to  see  how  the  stranger,  espe- 
cially if  he  is  a  European,  conducts  himself ; 
but  their  curiosity  rarely  becomes  offensive. 
Although  professedly  Buddhists  or  Mahom- 
etans, and  one  of  course  expects  such  peo- 
ple to  be  abstemious,  the  natives  make  a 
pleasing,  thirst-quenching  drink  which  is 
something  like  both  wine  and  beer.  All 
things  considered,  when  the  government  of 
the  Chinese  Republic  has  become  so  firmly 


THE   TIBETANS   AND    COUNTRY       179 

established  as  to  rule  and  govern  in  all 
parts  of  its  domain,  there  will  be  an  oppor- 
tunity for  the  curious  traveler  to  derive 
much  satisfaction  from  a  visit  to  this  group 
of  our  Chinese  neighbors. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

TRE  MAHOMETANS 

IT  will  be  remembered  that  Mahometanism 
is  considered  as  beginning  in  the  year 
622  of  the  Christian  era.  Furthermore  it  is 
generally  said  that  the  teachers  of  this  re- 
ligion have  never  been  remarkably  conspic- 
uous for  their  efforts  to  secure  converts  by 
sending  missionaries  into  regions  of  the 
earth  far  away  from  the  center  of  their  own 
faith,  Mecca.  Yet  in  the  Chinese  Republic 
there  are  many  Mahometans.  This  is  not 
at  all  surprising  when  we  think  of  the  ex- 
treme western  section  of  the  republic,  for 
in  those  districts  the  people  came  into  direct 
association  with  the  advancing  Moslems, 
and  indeed  the  colonies  of  those  who  profess 
that  faith  are  the  most  important  element 
in  the  populations  of  Dzungaria,  Hi,  and 
Chinese  Turkestan. 

In  such  a  part  of  the  Chinese  Republic 
as  Eastern  Mongolia,  thousands  of  miles 
from  the  frontier  along  which  the  Mahome- 
tans have  been  living  in  numbers  for  nearly 
fourteen  hundred  years,  there  are  fol- 
lowers of  the  Prophet.  At  the  cities  of  T'a 
Tzu  Kou  and  Hata,  as  well  as  throughout 

180 


THE   MAHOMETANS  181 

the  whole  adjacent  country,  there  is  a  con- 
siderable Moslem  population,  and  in  the 
former  city  the  mosque  is  a  handsome 
building.  At  least  its  gateway  is  an  impos- 
ing structure,  even  if  it  does  not  bear 
distinguishing  marks  to  denote  the  faith  of 
those  who  worship  therein.  For  a  Moslem 
temple  that  gateway  is  somewhat  too 
highly  ornamented ;  although  the  interior  is 
said  to  be  very  quiet  and  plain. 

One  Christian  missionary  who  made  a 
trip  in  eastern  Mongolia  a  few  years  ago, 
says  that  the  simplicity  and  apparent  rever- 
ence associated  w4th  Mahometan  mosques, 
is  especially  welcomed  in  a  land  like  China, 
where  most  things,  in  any  way  connected 
with  religion,  are  loud  and  garish,  and  even 
the  temples  at  times  are  the  opposite  of 
restful.* 

There  is  one  conspicuous  trait  which 
marks  pleasantly  the  Mahometan  of  far 
eastern  China  from  their  fellows  in  the  re- 
mote west.  It  is  that  the  priests  in  charge 
of  the  mosques  show  themselves  quite 
friendly  towards  the  visitor  from  Europe, 
They  claim  a  certain  relationship  on  the 
ground  of  religion,  because  their  faith,  like 
our  own,  came  into  China  from  the  west. 

This  claim  of  fellowship  extends  to  more 
prosaic  or  ])ractical  matters  than  religion, 

*  Headlcy,  Jolin,  Tramps  in  Dark  Mongolia. 


182     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

for  wherever  there  is  a  choice  at  a  remote 
city  or  town  of  eastern  Mongolia,  between 
an  inn  kept  by  a  Buddhist  Chinese,  or 
one  whose  landlord  is  a  Mahometan,  the 
stranger  will  do  well  to  accept  hospitality 
from  the  latter,  for  as  a  rule  the  accommoda- 
tions are  cleaner,  the  fare  better,  and  more 
to  his  taste,  and  the  welcome  more  cordial. 

Just  here  an  amusing  story  of  how  the 
Mahometans  look  at  their  political  affilia- 
tions may  be  told :  I  borrow  the  substance 
of  it  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Headley.* 

A  Chinese  whose  name  was  Wang  Fu 
Ma,  who  had  gone  into  eastern  Mongolia 
from  the  province  of  Shantung,  and  quite 
evidently  he  was  a  man  of  the  adventurer 
class,  had  been  employed  by  the  Russians 
during  the  late  war  with  Japan,  1904-5. 
His  services  had  been  so  highly  appreciated 
that  he  was  reputed  to  have  received  from 
the  Russian  government  a  commission  as 
major  in  their  regular  army. 

It  was  Wang's  duty  to  help  procure  sup- 
plies for  the  Russian  commissariat,  and 
therefore  he  made  frequent  visits  to  K'u  Lu 
Kou  for  the  purpose  of  buying  animals  and 
produce.  On  one  of  his  trips  he  took  into 
partnership  a  Mahometan  townsman  who 
likewise  bore  the  family  name  of  Wang. 
They  bought  three  thousand  head  of  cattle 

*  Op.  cit. 


THE    MAHOMETANS  183 

and  made  them  ready  for  the  march  to  Muk- 
den. The  Mahometan,  having  concluded  a 
profitable  deal  as  middleman  for  the  Rus- 
sians, then  thought  to  make  another  hon- 
est (?)  penny  out  of  their  enemies,  and 
surreptitiously  sent  a  message  to  a  notori- 
ous brigand  chief,  Chin  Shou  Shon,  who  was 
in  the  pay  of  the  Japanese.  The  result  of 
course  was  an  attack  upon  the  Russian  con- 
voy; the  death  of  Major  Wang  Fu  Ma  and 
the  decapitation  of  the  civilian  Wang,  came 
as  incidents. 

Just  when  Islamism  made  its  way  as 
a  preached  religion  into  China  is  not  easy 
to  determine.  Not  only  would  the  caravan 
trade  along  routes  leading  westward  across 
the  continent,  tend  to  bring  the  Chinese  and 
Mahometans  into  intercourse,  with  the  in- 
evitable result  that  the  Moslem  priests 
would  try  to  spread  a  knowledge  of  their 
faith,  but  the  sea-trade  between  the  ports 
of  southern  China  and  those  of  the  Arabian 
Gulf  or  even  still  farther  west,  would  like- 
wise promote  such  intermingling. 

It  is  certain  that  in  early  times  the  Hwui- 
hwui  Kiao,  as  the  Chinese  called  the  Mos- 
lems, the  followers  of  the  Propliet,  were 
attracted  to  China.  In  the  time  of  the 
T'ang  Dynasty  (618  to  907  A.  D.)  there 
were  Mahometan  priests  at  Canton  and 
Hangchau.     They      built      mosques,      they 


184     ouE  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

opened  schools  and  printed  some  books,  and 
they  encouraged  the  Chinese  to  make  pil- 
grimages to  Mecca.  This  last  mentioned 
attempt  at  proselytizing  appealed  mightily 
to  the  Chinese,  who,  especially  along  the 
coast,  have  always  been  passionately  fond 
of  travel  and  of  going  over  seas  whenever 
they  could  make  excuse  for  doing  so. 

There  is  one  thing  about  Islamism  which 
has  seemed  to  be  a  sufficient  reason  for  its 
not  meeting  with  much  favor  amongst  the 
Chinese,  and  that  is  the  rigid  rule  which 
forbade  translation  of  the  Koran.  This 
would  tend,  of  course,  to  keep  the  sacred 
book  out  of  the  hands  of  the  literati  and 
educated  classes,  who  were  not  content  to 
receive  instruction  solely  from  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Moslem  missionaries,  and  their 
expounding  by  word  of  mouth,  the  tenets  of 
their  religion.  Still,  as  has  been  said,  the 
number  of  Mahometans  in  the  Chinese  Ee- 
public  is  so  great  that  they  are  given  the 
honor  of  having  one  stripe  in  the  new  flag 
stand  for  them. 

There  are  even  now  mosques  in  many 
of  the  cities  of  China  proper,  as  well  as 
in  Mongolia  and  Manchuria.  Before  the 
downfall  of  the  Manchus  there  was  a  tablet 
in  each  mosque  which  bore  an  ascription 
of  reverence  to  the  Emperor,  while  the  name 
of  the  Prophet  was  placed  behind  that  of 


THE   MAHOMETANS  185 

his  imperial  majesty;  what  will  be  done 
now  that  the  president  of  the  Republic  is 
to  be  considered  as  having  no  claim  to  di- 
vine right,  and  no  family  connection  with 
the  gods  in  Heaven,  remains  to  be  seen; 
probably  the  Prophet's  name  will  be  given 
sole  prominence. 

There  are  of  course  no  idols  or  any 
images  in  the  mosques;  and  none  of  the 
tablets  that  are  so  sacred  to  Buddhists, 
Taoists,  and  Confucianists ;  but  there  are 
plenty  of  scrolls  suspended  along  the  walls, 
and  these  bear,  in  Arabic,  references  to  the 
doctrines.  These  scrolls  are  unintelligible 
to  even  the  educated  among  the  worship- 
ers, for  Arabic  is  a  language  which  the 
Chinese  learn  only  with  the  greatest  dififl- 
culty.  Although  affirming  that  they  wor- 
ship the  true  God  by  the  name  of  Chu,  or 
Lord,  yet  it  is  more  than  doubtful  if  the 
Mahometans  ever  did  anything  appreciable 
to  elevate  the  Chinese  in  any  way,  or  that 
the  religion  has  ever  benefited  the  country. 

But  the  greatest  interest  which  the  Ma- 
hometans in  China  possess  for  us  is  their 
rebellions.  The  word  "  rebellion  "  is  a  com- 
mon one  in  Chinese  history,  and  it  brings 
to  the  mind  many  scenes  of  bloodshed  and 
destruction,  on  scales  that  fill  us  with  hor- 
ror. 

The  establishing  of  Chinese  rule  in  those 


186     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

parts  of  the  former  empire,  which  must  be 
distinguished  by  the  names  Dzungaria,  Hi, 
Kobdo,  Eastern  Turkestan,  etc.,  was  accom- 
plished so  long  ago  that  anything  more 
than  this  brief  allusion  is  unnecessary,  al- 
though it  has  to  be  said  that  it  was  not 
effected  in  a  quiet  way  without  the  shed- 
ding of  much  blood. 

After  the  Chinese  had  fixed  themselves 
firmly  as  rulers,  peace  —  at  least  of  a  kind 
—  ensued  for  centuries.  Indeed,  it  was  not 
until  after  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century  that  some  of  the  Mahometan  sub- 
jects of  the  Chinese  Emperor  broke  out  into 
open  revolt,  which  threatened  for  a  time 
the  very  foundations  of  the  empire.  It  is 
not  intended  to  suggest  that  always  were 
those  subjects  entirely  satisfied  with  the 
rule  of  the  mandarins;  for  often  the  over- 
bearing oppression  of  these  administrative 
ofiicials  was  resented;  yet  I  imagine  that 
the  officials  knew  only  too  well  their  own 
guilt,  and  succeeded  in  placating  their  re- 
bellious subjects  without  calling  upon  the 
Central  Government  for  assistance,  or  let- 
ting the  people  carry  their  complaints  to 
the  throne. 

But  while  tlie  Central  Government  was 
worried  almost  to  distraction  by  the  fa- 
mous Tapping  Rel)ellion,  which  began  in 
1850  and  was  finally  suppressed  in  1863, 


THE    MAHOMETANS  187 

and  then  only  tliroiio^h  the  effort  of  "  Chi- 
nese "  Gordon,  the  Britisli  oflQcer  who  was 
loaned  to  the  Chinese  Government  for  the 
express  purpose,  rebellions  of  the  Mahome- 
tan subjects  broke  out  almost  simultaneous- 
ly in  the  southwest  province  of  Yunnan 
and  in  the  two  provinces  of  Shensi  and 
Kansuh,  in  the  far  northwest. 

With  regard  to  the  first  mentioned,  it 
was  the  culmination  of  an  unsuccessful  ef- 
fort by  the  Mahometan  population  to  in- 
duce the  Central  Government  to  punish  the 
unscrupulous  mandarins  who  committed 
the  gravest  crimes,  and  praying  the  em- 
peror to  send  a  just  and  honest  man  to  rule 
over  them.  Perhaps  the  Court  intention- 
ally paid  no  attention  to  these  appeals, 
although  probably  the  greater  rebellion  ob- 
scured the  less;  at  any  rate  nothing  was 
done  to  satisfy  the  Mahometans  and  the 
resulting  rebellion  in  Yunnan,  as  well  as 
that  in  the  northwest,  cost  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  lives  and  large  sums  of  mimey. 

In  1873  a  similar  uprising  of  the  Mahom- 
etans in  the  northwest  was  finally  sup- 
pressed. We  know  that  the  expense  to  the 
Central  Government  which  this  entailed 
was  very  great  and  that  the  loss  of  life  was 
enormous,  because  during  active  hostilities 
neither  side  gave  quarter;  but  we  shall 
never  know  tlie  exact  extent  of  the  rebellion. 


188     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

nor   its   precise   cost   in   men   and   money. 

The  Mahometan  rebellion  in  East  Tur- 
kestan, about  1870,  was  serious  in  itself, 
but  it  was  most  important  to  the  Chinese 
because  of  the  share  which  Eussia  had  in 
its  suppression,  and  of  the  complications 
that  followed. 

Of  Turkestan  as  a  whole,  we  get  our  first 
glimpse  somewhere  about  200  B.  C.  The 
country  was  evidently  a  fertile  one,  for  it 
aroused  the  envy  of  some  Yue-che,  of  the 
Mongolian  or  Tartar  race,  who  poured 
in  from  the  northeast.  Later,  rather  by 
peaceful  crowding  than  by  armed  conquest, 
these  intruders  were  replaced  by  Moslems, 
so  that  now  the  major  part  of  all  the  ex- 
treme west  of  the  Chinese  Republic  is  popu- 
lated by  followers  of  the  Prophet,  although 
doubtless  there  may  be  many  of  those  Tar- 
tars who  have  accepted  Islamism. 

The  influence  of  climate  in  that  region 
has  been  tremendous,  the  drying  up  of  what 
must  have  been  at  one  time  fairly  fertile 
regions  is  indicated  clearly  by  the  discover- 
ies of  archaeologists,  so  that  the  combina- 
tion of  cruel  Nature  and  yet  more  cruel 
Man,  has  converted  most  of  the  western 
possessions  into  what  is  little  better  than  a 
desert.  The  people  themselves  were  like- 
wise affected  both  in  their  physical  develop- 
ment and  their  habits  of  life,  as  well  as  in 


THE    MAHOMETANS  189 

the  nature  of  their  disposition.  At  times 
they  are  hospitable  and  kind,  at  other  times 
they  are  hostile  and  treacherous,  so  that 
traveling  in  that  region  is  always  a  pre- 
carious matter. 

Dzungaria,  where  are  many  of  the 
Mahometans  of  China,  was  formerly  a 
Mongolian  kingdom  of  considerable  im- 
portance. It  attained  its  extreme  height, 
politically  and  socially,  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  seventeenth  century  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Bushtu  Khan,  known  also  as  Kal- 
dan.  The  former  kingdom  was  long  ago 
divided  into  Eastern  Turkestan,  belonging 
to  China,  and  Russian  Turkestan.  Its 
name  came  from  the  Dsongars  or  Songars, 
who  were  so-called  because  they  formed  the 
left  wing  of  the  Mongolian  army;  dson 
meaning  "  left "  and  gar  meaning  "  hand," 
Properly  speaking,  the  portion  belonging 
to  China  should  be  called  T'ien  Shan-pei-lu, 
that  being  the  official  name  of  the  province, 
which  probably  conveys  the  idea  of  "  The 
Mountains  that  reach  up  to  Heaven." 

The  population  of  Eastern  Turkestan  is 
exceedingly  mixed,  as  would  naturally  be 
expected.  There  are  some  Aryans,  many 
people  belonging  to  the  Ural-Altaic  stock, 
which  connotes  the  people  of  the  high  cen- 
tral Asian  region,  Dzungars,  and  others. 
The  agriculturalists,  both  farmers  and  or- 


190     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

chardists,  are  nearly  all  of  Turkish  stock, 
yet  they  too  are  much  mixed  with  Aryan 
blood.  In  the  towns  the  people  are  prac- 
tically, all  of  Turkish  blood,  and  the  lan- 
guage universally  spoken  is  Jogatai  Turk- 
ish, a  patois  which  is  astonishingly  popular 
throughout  the  whole  region  west  and  south 
of  the  great  desert  of  Gobi. 

Because  so  much  of  Eastern  Turkestan 
is  desert,  agriculture  is  of  very  small  im- 
portance, being  confined  to  the  oases  at  the 
foot  of  the  mountains.  However,  if  the 
crops  are  small  in  their  totals,  excellent 
grains  of  various  kinds  are  grown,  besides 
cotton,  tobacco,  opium,  etc.  Some  of  the 
oases  are  famous  for  their  orchards  which 
provide  fruits  of  many  kinds,  all  having  a 
most  remarkable  reputation  for  size  and 
delicacy  of  flavor. 

The  Chinese  officials,  under  the  former 
administration,  were  notoriously  indifferent 
towards  the  material  development  of  the 
country  they  were  sent  to  govern,  and  al- 
though they  must  have  known  that  wonders 
could  be  accomplished  in  the  oases  and 
their  surrounding  country  if  irrigation  were 
provided,  they  seemed  to  have  given  next  to 
no  attention  to  this  important  matter. 
Nevertheless  the  people  themselves  have 
done  much  in  this  way  and  with  admirable 
results.     It  is  to  be  hoped,  and  it  is  believed. 


THE   MAHOMETANS  191 

that  the  new  government  of  the  Chinese  Re- 
public will  give  the  needed  assistance  in 
trying  to  convert  at  least  a  portion  of  this 
desert  region  into  arable  land,  and  make 
the  Mahometan  population  a  factor  of 
some  importance  in  the  great  schemes  of 
industrial  and  commercial  development 
which  the  enthusiastic  progressives  of  China 
have  promised  themselves. 

The  people  of  some  of  those  oases  already 
bear  an  excellent  reputation  for  admirable 
workmanship  in  certain  specialties.  Kho- 
tan  furnishes  silks,  white  carpets,  felt 
goods,  and  many  kindred  articles  which  are 
greatly  sought  after,  not  only  by  the  peo- 
ple of  the  surrounding  countries,  but  also 
some  of  them  find  their  way  abroad.  The 
leather  goods,  especially  saddlery  of  Kucha 
and  Kara-shahr  have  a  well-deserved  repu- 
tation for  excellence  and  beauty ;  and  there 
are  a  number  of  other  towns  which  are 
more  or  less  specialized  as  to  their  crea- 
tions. ITnder  wise  administration,  and 
with  relief  from  the  official  rapacity  of  the 
past,  there  is  no  reason  why  all  of  the  in- 
dustries sliould  not  be  raised  from  practi- 
calh^  insignificance  to  volumes  of  impor- 
tance. 

Very  attractive  suggestions  as  to  possi- 
bilities in  industrial  art,  are  to  be  found  in 
the  following  extract  from  the  last  edition 


192       OUR   NEIGHBOES:     THE   CHINESE 

of  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  based  upon 
Dr.  Sven  Hedin's  reports :  "  In  the  desert 
not  far  from  the  town  of  Khotan,  in  a  lo- 
cality known  as  Borasan,  objects  in  terra- 
cotta, bronze  images  of  Buddha,  engraved 
gems,  coins  and  Mss.  [were  found]  ;  the 
objects  which  display  artistic  skill,  give  in- 
dications of  having  been  wrought  by  crafts- 
men who  labored  to  reproduce  Grseco- 
Indian  ideals  in  the  service  of  the  cult  of 
Buddha,  and  consequently  date  presumably 
from  the  third  century  B.  C,  when  the  suc- 
cessors of  Alexander  the  Great  were  found- 
ing their  kingdoms  in  Persia,"  etc. 

But  it  is  not  necessary  to  infer  that  the 
skill  of  those  craftsmen  has  absolutely  dis- 
appeared in  their  remote  descendants,  more 
than  tw^o  thousand  years  later.  Another 
writer,  whose  antiquarian  researches  have 
given  assurance  of  a  degree  of  culture  in 
this  apparently  hopeless  region,  is  Dr.  M. 
A.  Stein.  He  found  traces  of  a  Chinese 
wall,  with  watch-towers  and  guard-stations, 
that  must  have  been  of  considerable  length. 
There  were  evidences  of  settlement  back  to 
the  second  century  of  our  era,  and  Dr. 
Stein  found  a  large  number  of  documents 
and  examples  of  early  Chinese  art.  The 
interesting  question  then  asserts  itself: 
Was  the  influx  of  Mahometans  the  cause 
of  the  disappearance   of  that   culture;   or 


THE   MAHOMETANS  193 

was  it  purely  a  result  of  physical  degrada- 
tion both  of  soil  and  inhabitants?  If  the 
former,  there  would  seem  to  be  an  admir- 
able opportunity  for  the  Chinese  Republic 
to  re-educate  the  Mahometans  of  these 
Western  provinces  so  that  conditions  of  two 
thousand  years  ago  may  be  revived  to  the 
great  advantage  of  the  New  Republic. 


CHAPTER  XV 

HOW  THE  CHINESE  CAME   TO   BE  KNOWN 
TO  THE  BEST  OF  THE  WOBLD 

IT  has  already  been  indicated  that  the 
peoples  of  southeast  Europe,  long  be- 
fore the  commencement  of  the  Christian 
era,  knew  something  of  a  land  in  the  re- 
moter parts  of  Asia  which  they  were  accus- 
tomed to  call  Seres.  Whether  it  was 
through  myth  or  something  based  upon  geo- 
graphical knowledge  that  this  name  came 
to  have  rather  a  wide  horizon,  or  because  of 
the  skill  which  the  people  of  that  distant 
country  early  displayed  in  rearing  silk- 
worms and  in  manufacturing  silk  clothes, 
hardly  calls  for  careful  consideration  here. 
There  is  abundant  evidence  that  at  the 
very  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  and 
probably  before  that  time,  the  Greek  and 
Roman  merchants  need  not  have  gone  all 
the  way  to  China  proper  to  obtain  these 
coveted  materials,  for  it  has  been  shown  in 
the  last  chapter  that  almost  certainly  these 
could  have  been  had  in  Turkestan,  before 
entering  the  dreary  deserts  which  lay  be- 
tween that  section  of  the  former  Chinese 
Empire  and  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  east- 

194 


HOW   THEY   CAME   TO   BE   KNOWN     195 

ern  part  thereof  where  the  mulberry  tree 
grew  in  great  numbers  and  silk  goods  were 
common. 

An  amusing  example  of  the  proneness  of 
too  many  writers  for  jumping  to  a  conclu- 
sion, because  they  are  deceived  by  some 
trifling  linguistic  resemblance  or  state- 
ment which  seems  to  them  to  be  suggestive, 
is  found  in  the  commentaries  upon  the  writ- 
ings of  one  of  the  Greek-Latin  historians, 
Ammianus-Marcellinus  (320  to  390  A.  D.), 
who  gives  a  description  of  the  land  of  Seres 
and  of  its  people.  He  seems  to  allude  to 
the  famous  Great  Wall  which  was  com- 
menced by  Emperor  T'sin  Chih  in  214  B.  C. 
and  finished  in  204  B.C. 

Of  course  it  was  not  absolutely  impos- 
sible for  this  stupendous  undertaking  to 
have  been  known  in  Europe  at  the  time 
when  this  historian  wrote,  although  it  is 
safe  to  say  it  was  quite  improbable  that 
anybody  could  have  carried  the  news  across 
the  continent  of  Asia  to  the  Europeans; 
and  equally  improbable  that  any  traveler 
from  Europe  should  have  wandered  so  far 
into  the  remote  east.  Yet  Christian  Las- 
sen, a  German  Orientalist,  bom  1800,  died 
187G,  and  Joseph  Toussaint  Reinaub,  a 
French  Orientalist,  born  1795,  died  1867, 
botli  seemed  to  have  been  curiously  deceived 
by  Ammianus'  allusion,  and  to  have  taken 


196     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

it  for  granted  that  he  did  refer  to  the  great 
barrier  intended  to  keep  the  Tartars  out 
of  the  Middle  Kingdom. 

As  a  simple  matter  of  fact,  Ammianus 
was  manifestly  giving  a  little  touch  of  color 
to  the  dry  statement  of  Ptolemy,  and  had  in 
his  mind  nothing  more  than  the  mountains 
which  were  said  to  separate  Seres  from  the 
western  world.  Ptolemy  plainly  indicates 
that  the  country  of  Serice  extends  south 
w^estward  to  the  region  of  the  Pamirs,  and 
no  doubt  it  did  reach  quite  that  far  in  the 
time  of  the  famous  Egyptian  astronomer, 
mathematician,  and  geographer,  who  Avrote 
during  the  interval  from  125  to  135  A.  D. 

In  the  nineteenth  century  the  Chinese 
Government  certainly  did  assert  and  main- 
tain its  rights  to  territory  beyond  the 
Pamirs. 

"  If  we  fuse  into  one,  the  ancient  notices 
of  the  Seres  and  their  country,  overlooking 
anomalous  statements  and  manifest  fables, 
the  result  will  be  somewhat  as  follows: 
'  The  region  of  the  Seres  is  a  vast  and  jjopu- 
lous  country,  touching  on  the  east  the  ocean 
and  the  limits  of  the  habitable  world,  and 
extending  west  to  Imaus  and  the  confines 
of  Bactria.  The  people  are  civilized,  mild, 
just,  and  frugal,  eschewing  collisions  with 
their  neighbors,  and  even  shy  of  close  inter- 
course, but  not  adverse  to  dispose  of  their 


HOW   THEY   CAME   TO   BE   KNOWN     197 

own  products,  of  which  raw  silk  is  the 
staple,  but  which  included  also  silk-stuffs, 
fine  furs,  and  iron  of  remarkable  quality.' 
This  is  manifestly  a  definition  of  the  Chi- 
nese." * 

But  then  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  clearly 
proved  that  the  Chinese  had  a  very  correct 
knowledge  of  that  part  of  Europe  which 
was  considered  then  to  be  civilized,  at  the 
commencement  of  the  Christian  era.  In 
some  of  the  Chinese  Classics  there  is  men- 
tion of  the  Empire  of  Rome  by  the  name  of 
Ta-tsing,  "  Great  Nation,''  and  a  surpris- 
ingly high  tribute  is  paid  to  the  intelligence, 
probity,  and  courtesy  of  the  Romans;  while 
their  attainments  in  arts  and  industry  are 
spoken  of  in  such  a  way  as  almost  to  lead 
us  to  suspect  the  Chinese  were  envious  of 
the  achievement  of  those  people  in  the  re- 
mote west. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  in  those  times 
the  Chinese  had  not  assumed  that  air  of 
superiority  which  made  them  so  objection- 
able fifteen  hundred  years  later.  They 
would  not  have  thought  at  that  time  of 
speaking  of  strangers,  who  displayed  the 
skill  and  material  progress  of  the  Greeks 
and  Romans,  as  "  Outer  Barbarians "  or 
"  Foreign  Devils."  Yet  even  this  slight 
knowledge  of  each  other,  that  is  Chinese 

*  Sir  Henry  Yule,  in  Enc.  Brit. 


198     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

and  Europeans,  does  not  really  satisfy  the 
meaning  of  "  know  "  as  the  word  is  used 
in  the  title  to  this  chapter. 

Nor  can  we  get  much  satisfaction  from  the 
myths  and  legends  that  in  the  earliest  years 
of  the  first  century  after  Christ,  there  were 
missionaries  of  the  new  faith  who  made 
their  way  into  the  Land  of  Sinim.  I  have 
found  much  that  is  interesting  and  indeed 
quite  probable  in  the  narrative  of  two  Arab 
merchants  who  either  made  their  way  over- 
land into  some  part  of  the  Chinese  Empire 
of  the  ninth  century,  or  came  into  commer- 
cial relations  with  Chinese  caravans; 
although  possibly  they  may  have  gone  by 
sea  to  the  coast  of  China.  But  their  nar- 
rative is  not  satisfactory. 

The  name  Cathay  comes  nearest  to  af- 
fording a  satisfactory  idea  of  what  the  Chi- 
nese were  a  long  time  ago.  It  is  derived 
from  the  Kitan  Tartars  of  the  Liaotung 
peninsula  and  its  hinterland.  Those  peo- 
ple assisted  in  the  overthrow  of  the  subor- 
dinate T'ang  or  "  After  T'ang "  dynasty. 
They  put  a  monarch  on  the  throne  of  China 
and  then  compelled  him  to  give  them  a  heavy 
subsidy.  They  exacted  tlie  cession  of  six- 
teen cities  in  the  now  metropolitan  province 
of  Chihli,  and  an  annual  tribute  of  three 
hundred  thousand  pieces  of  silk.  This  dis- 
graceful dynasty,  if  such  it  may  be  called  for 


HOW   THEY   CAME   TO   BE   KNOWN      199 

many  of  the  Chinese  historians  deliberately 
ignore  it,  lasted  from  936  to  947  A.  D.,  and 
it  is  reckoned,  by  the  few  recorders  who  do 
not  cut  it  out  of  the  list  altogether,  as  the 
meanest  and  most  contemptible  House  that 
ever  presumed  to  rule  the  peoples  of  the 
Middle  Kingdom.  But  for  all  their  base- 
ness, the  Kitans  gave  the  world  a  word 
which,  in  its  original  form  of  Kitai,  is  still 
used  in  Russia  to  designate  China,  and  is 
similarly  employed  by  most  of  the  natives 
of  Central  Asia. 

If  Cathay  was  at  all  known  to  medieval 
Europe,  it  may  be  only  as  an  almost  myth- 
ical country,  the  name  long  ago  ceased  to 
be  used  as  a  geographical  expression,  but 
it  is  even  now  sometimes  employed  in  poetic 
or  semi-poetic  description.  It  will  proba- 
bly always  be  associated  in  our  minds  with 
the  conquests  of  the  great  Genghis  Khan 
and  his  successors,  who  for  a  time  appar- 
ently threatened  to  wipe  out  Christianity 
and  absorb  all  Christians  into  the  Mongol  or 
Tartar  Empire. 

Yet,  for  how  strange  to  our  feeble  human 
intelligence  seems  sometimes  the  way  of 
Providence,  "  'Tis  worthy  of  grateful  re- 
membrance of  all  Christian  people  that 
just  at  the  time  when  God  sent  forth  into 
the  western  parts  of  the  world  the  Tartars 
to  slay  and  be  slain,  He  also  sent  into  the 


200     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

east  His  faithful  and  beloved  servants, 
Dominic  and  Francis,  to  enlighten,  instruct, 
and  build  up  the  Faith."  This  is  the  state- 
ment of  a  later  missionary  friar,  Kicold  of 
Monte  Croce. 

We  owe  much  to  the  two  mendicant  or- 
ders, Dominican  and  Franciscan;  all  that 
we  know  of  Asia  during  the  middle  ages  of 
Europe.  Our  debt  is  especially  great  to 
the  latter  order  for  information  about 
Cathay  and  the  Cathayans.  Yet  it  was  not 
through  them  that  we  really  heard  for  the 
first  time  something  from  Cathay  itself. 

We  may  properly  say  that  it  was  through 
the  members  of  the  Polo  family  of  Venice 
that  the  Chinese  came  to  be  known  to  the 
rest  of  the  world.  This  statement  does 
not  mean  that  the  Polos  were  the  only  Eu- 
ropeans to  visit  China  (or  Cathay,  if  that 
word  is  preferred),  nor  does  it  absolutely 
preclude  the  possibility  that  some  Chinese 
visited  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages  or 
even  before  that  time.  There  is  evidence  to 
the  contrary;  certainly  as  to  the  visits  of 
Europeans  to  remotest  Asia  as  the  phrase 
then  connoted,  and  probably  so  as  to  Chi- 
nese going  westward. 

There  were  Chinese  engineers  employed 
along  the  banks  of  the  Tigres  River  because 
of  their  skill  in  constructing  and  maintain- 
ing irrigation  works;  and  it  is  reasonably 


HOW   THEY   CAME  TO   BE   KNOWN     201 

certain  that  whosoever  wished  to  do  so, 
might  in  those  times  have  consulted  Chinese 
astrologers  and  doctors  in  most  of  the  cities 
of  southwestern  Asia.  These  wise  men  are 
reputed  to  have  done  a  thriving  trade  in 
their  specialties.  If  the  Cathayans  were 
so  far  from  home  as  these  statements  indi- 
cate, it  is  impossible  not  to  believe  they 
went  farther,  and  crossed  the  Bosphorus 
into  Europe:  how  far  they  may  have  gone 
after  that  is  too  speculative  to  justify  even 
a  moment's  pause. 

Of  the  Polos  it  is  our  good  fortune  to 
have  a  narrative  from  the  lips  of  Marco,  the 
son  of  one  and  the  nephew  of  the  otlier  of 
two  brothers  who  completed  the  trio  which, 
in  the  thirteenth  century  set  out  from  Eu- 
rope and  journeying  on  and  on,  through 
summer  and  winter,  came  at  length  to  the 
residence  of  the  Great  Khan,  which  was 
then  at  a  certain  rich  and  great  city,  called 
Kemenfu. 

This  has  been  identified  as  Kaiping-fu, 
"  The  City  of  Peace,"  a  place  that  was 
founded  in  1256,  four  years  before  Kublai 
Khan's  accession  to  the  throne  of  the  great 
Empire  which  had  been  consolidated  by 
himself  and  his  immediate  ancestors. 
That  city  is  some  distance  north  of  the 
Great  Wall,  and  it  was  Kublai's  favorite 
summer  residence,  just  as  it  has  been  pop- 


202     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

ular  with  the  Peking  officials  and  gentry 
ever  since.  In  1264  it  was  called  Shang- 
tu,  "  Upper  Court "  for  the  very  reason  that 
it  was  such  a  favorite  resort  with  the  im- 
perial family,  its  courtiers,  and  the  aris- 
tocracy of  the  capital.  The  Polos'  visit 
then  was  the  beginning  of  a  sort  of  acquaint- 
ance between  Cathay  and  Europe  and  for 
a  couple  of  centuries  the  people  of  China, 
both  mandarins  and  commoners,  were  cer- 
tainly not  unfriendly  to  strangers.  We 
have  only  to  read  carefully  the  narrative  of 
Marco  Polo's  travels  to  be  convinced  tliat 
there  was  in  his  time  no  disposition  to  close 
up  China  behind  a  great  wall  which  was, 
figuratively,  to  be  raised  on  all  three  of  the 
land  sides,  while  the  gates  of  the  seaports 
were  to  be  closed  tightly  against  European 
invaders. 

When  the  Portuguese  had  found  their  way 
round  the  southern  extremity  of  Africa  and 
up  into  the  East  Indies,  that  land  of  spices 
which  had  long  been  their  main  objective, 
and  had  thereafter  gone  forward  till  they 
reached  the  coast  of  China,  from  which 
country  they  were  to  carry  the  silks,  fabrics 
and  many  precious  things  which  all  Eu- 
rope —  alike  men  and  women  who  could  af- 
ford to  wear  them  or  use  them  in  any  way 
—  were  so  anxious  to  procure. 

It  was  then  reasonably  and  correctly  as- 


HOW   THEY   CAME   TO   BE   KNOWN     203 

sumed  that  China  was  ready  to  give  wel- 
come to  the  Europeans  with  wide-open 
arms.  So  she  would  have  been  had  those 
Europeans  behaved  themselves  decently; 
and  had  the  reputation  of  those  Portuguese 
buccaneers  not  gone  before  them.  It  is  an  in- 
sult to  the  perspicacity  of  those  w^ho  were, 
at  that  time  certainly  if  they  are  not  now, 
among  the  brightest  and  most  intelligent 
people  of  the  world,  to  suppose  they  knew 
nothing  of  what  the  Portuguese  had  done 
along  the  African  coasts. 

But  even  if  the  Chinese  were  so  densely 
ignorant  as  to  know  nothing  of  what  the 
rest  of  the  world  was  doing,  and  of  the 
methods  followed  by  European  nations  in 
extending  their  domains,  it  would  have  been 
sufficient  for  them  to  note  just  what  the 
Europeans  did  on  arriving  at  Chinese  ports 
to  be  convinced  that  in  the  expressed  desire 
for  legitimate  trade  and  friendly  relations, 
the  newcomers  were  far  from  being  ingen- 
uous. 

I  shall  not  now  repeat  a  story,  which  has 
been  told  elsewhere,  of  the  seizure  of  Macao 
by  the  Portuguese  under  a  pretext  which 
would  have  been  repulsed  by  force  of  arms  in 
any  country  of  Europe,  or  in  any  of  the 
over-seas  possessions  of  such  a  nation.  I 
must  not,  moreover,  go  into  the  details  of 
the   opium   trade   for   that,   too,   has   been 


204     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

treated  of  elsewhere.*  But  I  am  convinced 
that  all  good  Americans  will  agree  that  the 
beginnings  of  the  revived  trade  between 
Chinese  and  Europeans  was  not  of  a  nature 
to  inspire  the  Chinese  officials  with  a  high 
idea  of  the  integrity  and  friendliness  of 
their  European  neighbors,  and  in  this  con- 
viction I  think  all  unprejudiced  Europeans 
will  concur. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  discuss  fully  the 
way  in  which  the  Chinese  became  known 
once  more  to  the  rest  of  the  world  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  without  incurring  the 
risk  of  hurting  somebody's  feelings.  I  hold 
no  brief  for  the  Chinese  government  or  peo- 
ple, and  cannot  therefore  espouse  their 
cause  too  fully,  else  would  there  be  a  state- 
ment of  force  too  often  employed  by  the 
strong  against  the  weak.  On  the  other 
hand,  I  do  not  feel  called  upon  to  extenuate 
actual  crimes  perpetrated  in  the  name  of 
progress,  friendly  relations,  and  legitimate 
trade. 

It  is  well,  perhaps,  to  repeat  the  sub- 
stance of  what  I  have  stated  elsewhere, 
that  the  Manchu  government  of  China,  and 
practically  all  the  mandarins  of  that  coun- 
try, were  heartily  opposed  to  their  subjects 
engaging  in  foreign  commerce.  All  the 
Manchus  knew  perfectly  well  that  in  their 

*  See  The  Coming  China. 


HOW   THEY   CAME  TO   BE   KNOWN     205 

hearts  all  Chinese  were  bitterly  opposed  to 
them:  they  feared  that  trade  with  Europe- 
ans would  result  in  alienating  their  Chi- 
nese subjects,  and  for  that  reason  the  Man- 
chus  did  everything  they  could  to  block 
trade. 

The  few  instances  on  record  of  real  Chi- 
nese mandarins  lending  their  influence  to 
promote  such  commercial  intercourse,  con- 
firmed the  suspicion  of  the  alien  rulers  of 
China  that  friendship  between  the  true  Chi- 
nese and  Europeans  meant  successful 
hostilities  between  Chinese  and  Manchus. 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  some  of  the  re- 
corded instances  of  Chinese  mandarins  try- 
ing to  encourage  trade  between  their 
nationals  and  Europeans,  showed  those  of- 
ficials to  be  only  too  willing  to  make  un- 
holy profit  for  themselves  out  of  that 
nefarious  and  debasing  opium  trade. 

The  Manchus  would  have  been  blind  or 
stupid  not  to  have  learnt  the  lesson  which 
the  Taeping  Rebellion  afforded,  that  was 
avowedly  an  uprising  to  dethrone  the 
T'sung  (Manchu)  dynasty  and  drive  out  all 
Manchu  officials.  It  was  not  the  only  evi- 
dence given  the  usurpers  that  the  Chinese 
hated  them,  but  it  Avas  the  most  startling 
one  of  all.  The  attitude  which  the  leaders 
took  at  first  of  professing  to  be  active 
Christians,  strengthened  the  conviction  of 


206     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

the  Manchus  that  intercourse  between  their 
Chinese  subjects  and  foreigners  was  bound 
to  result  in  everything  that  was  disastrous 
to  themselves,  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
recent  events  have  proved  the  Manchus  to 
have  been  entirely  correct  in  that  convic- 
tion. The  close  of  the  seventeenth  century 
found  the  whole  of  Europe  well  acquainted 
with  the  Chinese,  and  by  the  end  of  the  eight- 
eenth century  that  acquaintance  of  the 
latter  included  the  then  youngest  republic 
in  the  world,  the  United  States  of  America. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

A  CHINESE  BOY'S  LIFE 

LET  us  first  give  a  few  minute's  con- 
sideration to  what  the  life  of  a  little 
boy  probably  was  in  the  imperial  palace, 
let  us  say  until  the  enforced  abdication  of 
the  child  emperor.  He  was  likely  to  have  a 
pleasanter  life  in  retirement  from  active 
duty  as  emperor  of  a  collection  of  peoples 
who  never  were  homogenous,  and  who  bade 
fair  to  separate  violently  even  before  the 
downfall  of  the  Manchus.  His  life  under 
such  conditions  would  certainly  have  proved 
to  be  uncomfortable  to  himself. 

Although  the  Great  Empress  Dowager, 
less  than  ten  years  ago,  proved  in  her  own 
case  the  fallacy  of  the  Confucian  theory 
that  women  are  almost  less  than  nothing  in 
the  scale  of  things  divine  or  earthly,  it  is 
nevertheless  true  that  there  had  to  be  on  the 
throne  of  China  an  emperor  to  perform  the 
rites  of  ancestor  worship;  because  this 
could  be  done  only  by  a  male,  and  to  offi- 
ciate at  various  religious  ceremonies  during 
the  year  when  the  sovereign  communicated 
with  his  deceased  relatives  and  ancestors, 
the  gods  in  High  Heaven.     Hence  it  was 

207 


208     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

considered  as  of  rather  more  importance 
that  the  real  empress  should  hear  a  son  to 
her  liege  lord  than  it  was,  perhaps,  in  the 
case  of  other  families.  If  Her  Majesty 
was  not  so  favored  by  the  gods,  it  was  then 
incumbent  upon  the  emperor  to  provide  for 
the  succession  by  taking  unto  himself  con- 
cubines—  it  was  not  really  possible  that 
there  should  be  two  or  more  empresses. 

It  was  because  of  this  necessity  for  secur- 
ing male  issue  in  the  imperial  line  that  the 
famous  Empress  Dowager  managed  to  get 
the  reins  of  government  into  her  hands. 
During  the  reign  of  the  Manchus,  it  was 
required  that  all  Manchu  families  above  a 
certain  rank  should  furnish  to  the  nearest 
magistrate  a  full  description  of  their  mar- 
riageable daughters.  Then  once  a  year 
those  lists,  with  possibly  comments  upon  the 
physical  attractions  of  the  girls,  were  sent 
to  Peking;  and  if  the  emperor  desired  to  do 
so  he  could  require  any  of  the  maidens,  or 
as  many  as  he  chose,  to  become  inmates  of 
the  palace  and  imperial  concubines. 

It  was  in  this  way  that  Her  Majesty,  the 
late  Empress  Dowager,  first  got  into  the 
Court.  She  was  physically  attractive  and 
of  much,  more  than  average  intelligence,  and 
in  the  atmosphere  she  breathed  it  was  im- 
possible for  her  not  to  become  line  intri- 
gmite;  so  that  eventually  she  induced  the 


A   CHINESE   boy's   LIFE  209 

former  emperor  to  raise  her  to  the  position 
of  his  consort,  after  the  death  of  her  prede- 
cessor. She  was  never  recognized  officially 
as  the  sovereign,  even  if  there  was  prece- 
dent for  it  in  Chinese  annals;  but  that  she 
was  the  ruler  of  the  country  just  the  same 
is  indisputable. 

One  thing  she  never  forgave  the  gods,  and 
that  was  for  not  giving  her  a  legitimate  son 
to  ascend  the  throne  when  her  husband  was 
called  upon  to  relinquish  the  sceptre.  She 
hated  to  see  her  nephew,  Emperor  Kwang 
Hsti,  nominally  acquire  the  power  of  the 
monarch  and  we  all  know  she  took  good 
care  that  his  exercise  of  that  power  was  a 
farce,  so  far  as  concerned  anything  she  did 
not  originate  or  approve. 

When  a  little  prince  was  born  in  the  im- 
perial apartments,  there  were  certain  super- 
stitious ceremonies  to  be  observed  which 
would  be  considered  by  us  as  revolting,  and 
it  is  therefore  utterly  needless  to  describe 
them  here.  It  was  of  the  most  vital  im- 
portance that  the  court  astrologers  should 
be  informed  of  the  very  minute  of  the  boy's 
birth  in  order  to  be  able  to  cast  his  horo- 
scope, and  at  any  future  time  tell  him  the 
will  of  the  gods  as  to  any  proposed  act. 

The  next  important  measure  was  to  secure 
for  the  baby  a  wet  nurse,  because  another 
strange  superstition  forbade  the  empress  or 


210     OUR  neighbors;   the  Chinese 

imperial  concubine  nursing  her  own  male 
offspring.  The  Chinese  rulers  were  not 
altogether  singular  in  this  custom,  for  its 
parallel  may  be  noticed  in  other  parts  of  the 
world.  Probably  some  of  the  empresses, 
queens,  or  hereditary  princesses  of  ruling 
houses  in  Europe,  are  not  permitted,  or 
they  are  unwilling,  to  nurture  their  own 
little  sons;  and  yet  they  would  indignantly 
repudiate  the  idea  that  doing  so  was  in  the 
remotest  way  influenced  by  superstition. 

The  w^et  nurse  selected  for  the  imperial 
prince  was  always,  if  possible,  a  Manchu 
woman;  but  there  was  no  fixed  rule  about 
it  and  superstition  did  not  operate  to  pre- 
vent a  suitable  Chinese  woman  receiving 
the  appointment ;  I  may  say  this  was  a  most 
comfortable  and  lucrative  post  while  the 
active  duty  continued,  for  everything  was 
done  to  make  the  nurse  happy,  cheerful,  and 
as  stout  and  hearty  as  an  abundance  of  the 
best  food  could  secure  these  desiderata,  in 
order  that  the  little  prince  might  be  well 
nurtured  and  his  nutriment  contribute  to 
make  him  of  a  cheerful  disposition.  There 
are  many  cases  recorded  in  Chinese  history 
of  an  emperor  displaying  greater  real  love 
for  his  foster  mother  than  for  his  true 
mother. 

Instead  of  Christian  baptism,  or  the  Jew- 
ish rite  of  circumcision,  there  came  —  when 


A    CHINESE    boy's   LIFE  211 

the  boy  was  a  month  old  —  the  important 
ceremony  of  shaving  the  baby's  head,  usu- 
ally by  a  priest,  and  the  giving  of  the  "  Baby 
Name."  I  shall  not  attempt  to  enumerate 
the  many  other  ceremonies  which  mark  the 
babyhood  of  a  little  Manchu  Prince,  for 
there  were  too  many  of  them. 

If  the  child  was  constantly  weak,  there 
were  innumerable  rites  to  induce  the  gods 
to  give  him  health  and  strength.  This  weak- 
ness was  all  too  often  conspicuous  in  the 
imperial  children ;  and  it  could  hardly  have 
been  otherwise  when  we  remember  the  tend- 
ency on  the  part  of  so  many  emperors  to 
give  way  to  license  which  frequently 
amounted  to  absolute  debauchery,  thus 
weakening  the  father  both  physically  and 
mentally. 

When  the  boy  was  fully  six,  or  perhaps 
seven,  years  of  age,  came  the  next  important 
ceremony  of  another  shaving  of  the  head. 
This  time,  however,  the  patch  of  hair  on  the 
very  crown  was  allowed  to  remain  in  order 
that  the  queue  might  grow  and  thereafter, 
as  soon  as  possible,  the  lock  was  braided  and 
lengthened  by  adding  to  the  hair  some 
strands  of  silk  cord.  The  long  Chinese 
queue  with  which  most  of  us  are  familiar, 
was  never  more  than  two-thirds  real  hair, 
gi'owing  from  the  wearer's  head. 

At     this     second     ceremonial     shaving, 


212     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

another  name  was  given  to  the  little  prince. 
This  one  he  might  continue  to  bear  until  he 
attained  manhood  or  even  until  his  acces- 
sion to  the  throne,  if  he  was  chosen  to  that 
honor;  for  the  right  of  primogeniture,  as 
to  this  imperial  succession,  was  never  abso- 
lute in  the  Manchu  dynasty,  or  any  other, 
so  far  as  I  know;  the  emperor  frequently 
exercised  the  right  of  choice  and  in  doing 
so,  selected  a  junior  son. 

Then  came  the  duty  of  assigning  teachers 
for  the  young  prince's  education.  The 
most  important  member  of  the  corps  was 
the  man  who  was  to  instruct  the  prince  in 
the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Court ;  how 
to  perform  the  solemn  ritual  connected  with 
the  New  Year,  the  ceremonial  plowing  and 
planting  of  grain  in  the  spring  and  the 
reaping  at  harvest  time. 

There  were  a  thousand  of  these  ceremon- 
ies connected  with  the  worship  of  imperial 
ancestors,  the  expressions  of  gratitude  to  the 
gods  for  benefits  conferred  by  them  upon 
the  prince  himself,  the  imperial  family,  or 
the  whole  nation ;  and  there  were,  moreover, 
equally  solemn  ceremonies  to  appease  the 
wrath  of  the  gods,  when  misfortune  came  to 
Court  or  people,  for  the  responsibility  of  the 
emperor  in  these  matters  was  something 
very  real  in  the  eyes  of  the  monarch,  as  well 
as  in  the  opinion  of  his  subjects. 


A    CHINESE    boy's   LIFE  213 

But  I  imagine  every  true  American 
mother  would  have  felt  pity  for  the  little 
princeling  who  was  always  robed  in  heavy 
garments  that  must  have  been  a  sore  burden 
for  the  little  limbs.  If  naked  babies  are  a 
common  enough  sight  in  the  streets  of 
China,  the  luxury  of  kicking  up  his  bare 
heels  and  tumbling  about  in  the  freedom  of 
nudity,  was  scrupulously  denied  the  little 
imperial  prince. 

As  to  pleasure  in  the  precise  sense  that 
we  use  the  word,  there  was  precious  little 
of  it  allowed  the  young  prince,  until  he  had 
grown  to  be  a  big  boy.  Of  toys  and  all  sucli 
accessories  to  childish  amusement,  we  may 
be  sure  that  they  were  provided  in  plenty, 
but  there  was  not  much  freedom  granted  in 
using  them  lest  some  accident  might  result. 

It  is  related  of  the  late  Emperor  Kwang 
Hsii  that  when  he  was  a  lad,  he  saw  a  bicy- 
cle and  insisted  upon  having  its  use  ex- 
plained to  him.  Tliis  being  done,  he  de- 
manded one  for  himself.  One  of  the  best, 
most  expensive,  and  most  gorgeous 
"  wheels  "  was  bought,  and  the  prince  tried 
to  use  it;  but  he  neglected  to  tie  up  his 
queue,  or  to  wind  it  round  his  head  as  most 
of  his  fellow  countrymen  do  when  riding 
the  bicycle. 

Nobody  dared  touch  the  imperial  queue 
or  to  suggest  that  the  scion  of  the  imperial 


214     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

house  disgrace  himself  by  imitating  the  ex- 
ample of  common  people,  and  wind  the  dan- 
gerous braid  round  his  neck  or  his  head. 
The  result  was  that  the  long  pigtail  quickly 
became  wound  up  in  the  hind  wheel  and  the 
prince  had  a  bad  fall.  After  that  there  was 
no  more  bicycle  riding  for  him ! 

But  there  were  pleasures  of  a  certain  kind 
permitted  to  boys  of  the  imperial  family; 
such  as  boating  on  the  lake  within  the 
grounds  of  the  palace  in  the  Forbidden 
City,  that  northern  section  of  Peking  which 
was  strictly  reserved  for  the  habitation  of 
the  Court  and  its  numerous  retinues.  The 
lads  were  taught  to  ride;  in  the  Manchu 
fashion,  to  be  sure,  and  that  would  hardly 
have  satisfied  the  ideals  of  our  best  horse- 
men; for  the  saddle  was  a  high,  uncomfort- 
able thing,  the  stirrups  were  cumbersome 
and  big,  the  horse  or  pony  was  never  "  bri- 
dle wise,"  and  its  mouth  was  like  an  iron 
vise.  Then,  too,  the  prince  was  not  allowed 
to  ride  alone;  at  the  animal's  head  ran  a 
groom,  when  there  was  not  a  high  official 
assigned  to  this  duty,  and  he  led  the  pony 
at  a  walk  or  a  very  gentle  amble. 

Archery  was  often  converted  into  an  exer- 
cise from  which  the  lads  derived  some  pleas- 
ure; yet  even  this  "sport"  was  conducted 
in  a  lazy  fashion  that  would  never  have 
satisfied    a    stout,    healthy    American    lad. 


A   CHINESE   boy's   LIFE  215 

The  Mancbu  prince  took  bis  stand  at  the 
spot  indicated  by  the  gray-haired  Mancbu 
general  who  was  appointed  to  be  bis  teacher, 
and  was  first  carefully  instructed  as  to  the 
proper  postures,  the  grip  of  the  bow, 
the  drawing  of  the  arrow  from  the  quiver, 
the  placing  it  against  the  bowstring,  and  the 
correct  "  form  "  to  be  observed  in  drawing 
the  bow  and  letting  the  arrow  fly.  When 
the  arrows  had  all  been  discharged,  an  at- 
tendant gathered  them  up  and  returned 
them  to  the  prince  to  be  shot  again.  There 
was  no  real  exercise  about  it  and  no  true 
fun. 

Falconry  was  another  of  the  sports  per- 
mitted a  young  Manchu  prince,  and  possibly 
he  may  have  derived  some  pleasure  and  phy- 
sical benefit  from  this.  But  most  of  the 
prince's  time  was  given  to  his  books;  to 
pouring  over  the  Classics,  learning  what 
such  and  such  a  sage  had  said  on  some 
memorable  occasion;  why  this  or  that  one 
of  the  prince's  ancestors  had  given  his  de- 
cision for  or  against  a  petition  that  had 
come  up  to  him  through  the  Council  of  Min- 
isters. 

I  fear  that  when  all  conditions  of  life  sur- 
rounding an  imperial  prince  of  the  Manchu, 
until  lately  reigning  House,  are  considered 
tlie  verdict  of  a  liearty  American  lad  would 
be  emphatically  against  it  as  satisfactory  or 


216     ouE  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

enjoyable.  Before  leaving  the  Court,  it 
should  be  stated  that  when  a  little  prince 
grew  big  enough,  some  of  the  lads  belonging 
to  the  families  of  high  rank  courtiers  were 
compelled  to  be  his  playmates;  but  in  no 
possible  circumstances  were  these  permitted 
to  assert  themselves ;  they  were  compelled  to 
be  little  slaves  to  their  imperial  master,  and 
naturally  the  other  boys  of  the  Court  tried 
to  escape  the  punishment  of  being  playmates 
to  a  prince. 

Making  what  allowance  is  necessary  for 
difference  in  rank  and  dignity,  the  life  of 
Manchu  boys  belonging  to  families  who  were 
near  the  throne,  was  somewhat  the  same  as 
that  of  a  prince.  There  was  rarely  any- 
thing of  that  freedom  which  is  one  of  the 
greatest  charms  of  the  boyhood  of  our  chil- 
dren. Going  down  the  line  of  importance 
and  wealth,  we  should  have  found  somewhat 
similar  conditions  surrounding  nearly  all 
the  boys  in  China  a  score  or  two  of  years 
ago.  Amongst  the  gentry  and  the  well-to- 
do,  education,  that  is,  memorizing  the  Clas- 
sics, was  the  highest  ambition. 

Usually  the  eldest  son  was  trained  to  fol- 
low in  the  footsteps  of  his  father;  if  the 
parent  was  a  literary  man,  a  mandarin,  the 
eldest  son  was  educated  to  pass  the  ci\dl 
service  examinations  and  become  a  man- 


A   CHINESE   boy's   LIFE  217 

darin.  If  the  father  was  a  banker,  a  mer- 
chant, or  a  farmer,  the  duty  of  carrying  on 
the  occupation  devolved  upon  the  eldest  son, 
save  in  exceptional  cases  that  were  ex- 
tremely rare. 

Now,  all  this  has  been  changed.  There 
are  no  more  young  princes  to  be  trained  in 
the  Court,  and  too  frequently  to  be  made 
accustomed  to  the  licentiousness  of  that  life. 
Sons  of  all  classes  are  now  receiving  an  edu- 
cation that  is  of  real  benefit,  and  as  the  boys 
in  China  of  this  generation  come  to  man- 
hood, they  will  find  themselves  fitted  to 
associate  on  terms  of  the  fullest  equality 
with  their  fellows  from  any  other  parts  of 
the  world. 

Instead  of  lazy,  effeminate  "  plays ''  of 
the  past,  there  are  active  games  to  play  on 
school  grounds  or  college  athletic  fields 
where  there  is  an  equality  which  is  delight- 
fully democratic.  Doubtless  a  large  ma- 
jority of  the  Chinese  parents  will  continue 
to  carry  their  little  boys  to  the  temple  when 
the  child  is  a  month  old  to  have  the  entire 
head  shaved  and  the  first  name  conferred; 
but  there  will  be  very  few  repetitions  of  the 
second  sliaving  process. 

It  is  surprising  how  many  Chinese  parents 
who  are  not  themselves  professing  Chris- 
tians,   are   asking    Christian    ministers    to 


218     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

baptize  their  children  and  give  them  a  per- 
sonal name  which  shall  be  the  only  one  for 
them  to  use  throughout  their  whole  lives. 

The  Chinese  boy  of  former  times  derived 
fully  as  much  pleasure,  in  his  opinion,  from 
the  New  Year's  festivities  as  do  our  chil- 
dren from  the  gifts,  pleasures,  and  religious 
or  social  ceremonies  of  Christmas.  In  a 
certain  way  there  was  some  similarity 
between  the  two  events.  In  China  the  birth- 
day was  that  of  a  New  Year  and  inciden- 
tally it  was  the  birthday  of  every  one  in  the 
realm  of  the  gods,  in  the  habitation  of  the 
blessed  dead,  in  the  homes  of  the  living. 
For  a  Chinese  baby  was  always  two  years 
old  on  the  first  day  of  the  first  Moon  of  the 
New  Year  following  its  birth,  no  matter 
what  may  have  been  the  actual  day  of  its 
nativity.  Therefore  a  child  born  on  the 
27th  day  of  the  12th  Moon  was  reckoned  to 
be  one  whole  year  older  than  one  born  on 
the  2d  day  of  the  1st  Moon  of  the  following 
year,  although  there  might  be  only  three 
days'  difference  in  their  ages.  From  the 
palace  in  the  Forbidden  City  down  to  the 
hovel  of  the  beggar,  there  was  something  to 
mark  off  the  New  Year  as  a  time  of  jollity 
and  something  very  like  our  "  Peace  on 
Earth." 

Another  x^leasure  that  the  boy  of  the 
humbler  class  had  in  larcer  measure  than 


A   CHINESE    boy's   LIFE  219 

his  friends  who  were  better  off  than  himself 
in  world's  goods,  was  the  visits  to  the  ances- 
tral tombs.  Is  it  not  true  that  our  own 
really  poor  people  get  more  pleasure  from 
the  one  picnic  in  the  year  they  attend,  than 
do  those  of  us  who  are  blessed  with  frequent 
days  of  recreation?  It  was  certainly  true 
in  China,  that  boys  who  could  count  on  just 
that  one  day's  outing  took  from  it  an  im- 
mense amount  of  pleasure  to  be  treasured 
up,  perhaps,  for  the  succeeding  year.  I  feel 
sure  there  is  more  pleasure  in  store  for  the 
Chinese  boys  who  are  now  growing  up  than 
ever  there  was  for  their  fathers ! 


CHAPTER  XVII 

A  CHINESE  GIRL'S  LIFE 

A  LTHOUGH  most  of  our  students  of  so- 
•^^  cial  science  say  that  there  are  sections 
in  some  of  the  great  American  cities  where 
there  are  conditions  of  squalor  and  poverty, 
equal  to  if  not  exceeding  what  are  to  be 
found  in  any  part  of  the  globe;  yet  as  a  na- 
tion we  do  not  begin  to  know  what  poverty 
is,  as  the  word  is  used  to  describe  conditions 
in  China,  and  God  grant  we  never  shall 
learn  the  full  Chinese  meaning  of  that  awful 
word. 

There  are  large  areas  of  the  Chinese  Re- 
public where  the  people  do  not  know,  from 
one  New  Year's  day  to  the  next,  what  it  is 
to  eat  a  full  and  hearty  meal ;  and  there  are 
even  larger  areas  wherein  the  people  rarely 
sit  down  to  such  a  meal  of  really  nutritious 
food.  The  struggle  for  existence  is  not  one 
which  merely  makes  the  heads  of  the  family 
wonder  what  the  next  year,  or  the  next  sea- 
son, or  the  next  month,  is  going  to  bring; 
it  is  one  that  does  not  permit  many  a  father 
and  mother  to  say  what  to-morrow  shall 
give  them  and  their  little  ones. 
Amongst  those  millions  who  are  literally 

220 


A   CHINESE   girl's   LIFE  221 

living  from  band  to  mouth,  because  tbere  is 
notbing  reserved  on  tbe  sbelves  of  tbe  lar- 
der, it  is  imperatively  necessary  for  every 
pair  of  bands  in  tbe  family  to  contribute 
somewbat  to  tbe  support  of  tbe  bousebold. 
Hence  it  is  tbat  witb  people  so  circum- 
stanced tbe  desire  for  boy  children  is  para- 
mount. Nature  bas  compelled  those  people 
to  realize  tbat  girls  cannot  be  driven  like 
beasts  of  burden,  as  boys  may  be ;  and  even 
if  a  native  poet  bas  sung  of  the  little  damsels 
as  "  a  thousand  pieces  of  gold,"  girls  are 
considered  so  undesirable  that  often  a  man 
replies  to  the  question,  "  How  many  children 
have  you?''  by  mentioning  the  number  of 
bis  sons,  ignoring  completely  bis  daughters, 
who  are  looked  upon  as  a  misfortune  to  be 
forgotten,  if  possible. 

China,  like  Japan,  is  a  land  of  children 
and  the  traveler  wonders  whence  come  tbe 
swarms  of  little  folks  who  block  the  streets 
of  the  city  and  sprawl  along  the  roadway 
through  every  village  and  hamlet.  The  doc- 
trine of  Malthus,  that  governments  should 
assert  themselves  to  limit  tbe  birth  of  chil- 
dren to  tbe  ability  of  their  parents  to  pro- 
vide for  thom  in  childhood,  educate  them, 
and  give  them  a  start  in  life,  has  never  been 
heard  of  in  China,  except  by  some  students 
of  sociolog;N',  who  have  not  yet  dreamt  of 
applying  such  laws  to  their  own  people. 


222     OUE  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

In  tlie  circumstances  it  is  hardly  surpris- 
ing that  in  certain  districts,  those  wherein 
the  conditions  of  poverty  are  such  as  have 
just  been  intimated,  female  infanticide  is 
frightfully  common.  In  the  great  Hoang- 
ho  and  Yang-tze  valleys,  where  the  devasta- 
tion caused  by  floods  is  inevitably  followed 
by  famine,  and  the  condition  of  the  poor  is 
absolutely  hopeless,  it  is  hardly  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  when  a  new  baby  is  of  the 
wrong  sex,  its  span  of  life  is  measured  by  a 
few  minutes,  or  an  hour  or  two,  or  possibly 
a  day  or  so;  and  that  it  is  the  poor  father 
who  takes  upon  himself  the  awful  respon- 
sibility of  determining  what  shall  be  the 
little  girl's  fate. 

"  It  is  absurd  to  argue  that  infanticide  is 
no  more  prevalent  in  China  than  in  Eng- 
land; or  to  describe  it  as  a  curse  of  the 
land  which  devastates  whole  districts.  Let 
it  be  granted  at  once  that  most  Chinese 
parents  would  wish  their  children  all  to  be 
boys;  and  if  such  could  be  the  case,  there 
would  probably  not  be  a  country  on  the  face 
of  the  globe  where  infanticide  was  so  rare 
—  even  though  in  such  a  case  there  would, 
in  the  course  of  a  few  generations,  be  no 
infants  at  all  and  the  whole  race  would  die 
out.  It  is  doubtless  true,  however,  that 
cases  have  been  known  where  so  prevalent 
was  infanticide  that  locally  girls  could  not 


A   CHINESE   girl's   LIFE  223 

be  obtained  for  marriage,  and,  as  with  the 
Sabines  of  old,  other  districts  had  to  provide 
them."  * 

Sometimes,  when  conditions  of  life  have 
become  acute  and  it  is  a  question  of  all  the 
family  starving  quickly,  or  a  few  starving 
slowly,  even  boys  are  sold  to  become  slaves 
if  not  something  worse  in  a  land  where 
sodomy  is  beastly  fashionable;  yet  it  is  the 
girls  who  are  usually  sacrificed  first,  and 
these,  too,  become  slaves,  when  they  are  not 
compelled  to  follow  a  life  of  shame.  It 
must  not  always  be  taken  for  granted  that 
the  little  girl's  corpse  which  is  seen  floating 
seawards  in  a  river,  or  left  unburied  by  the 
roadside  for  dogs  or  vultures  to  devour, 
stands  for  another  case  of  female  infanti- 
cide ;  it  may  liave  been  that  death  came  from 
starvation  or  other  natural  causes,  and  that 
pinching  poverty  forbade  giving  the  little 
one  decent  burial. 

Having  thus  considered  the  most  terrible 
phase  of  a  girl's  life  in  China,  as  let  us 
hope  may  be  said  it  was  but  is  never  again 
to  be,  let  us  turn  to  those  which  are  not  so 
repulsive;  nay,  may  indeed  be  bright  and 
attractive.  Yet  if  we  begin  with  the  im- 
perial princesses  of  old  times,  or  even  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  the  late  Manchus,  we  find 
that  the  life  of  a  girl  born  within  the  im- 

*  Ball,  J.  Dyor,  The  Chinese  at  Home. 


224     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

perial  palace  and  of  the  imperial  family, 
was  not  often  a  happy  one.  For  them  there 
was  rarely  the  prospect  of  a  happy  married 
life,  because  there  were  no  consorts  to  be 
had  for  them ;  the  difference  of  rank  between 
those  of  the  blood  royal  and  young  men  of 
the  highest  native  nobility,  forbade  the  em- 
peror giving  his  daughters  to  be  the  wives 
of  his  subjects.  Occasionally  an  alliance 
with  the  son  of  a  reigning  family  in  a 
neighboring  foreign  country  was  arranged 
for  a  princess  of  the  imperial  family  of 
China,  and  she  was  sent  away  in  great 
state,  an  object  of  envy  with  all  her  less 
fortunate  sisters. 

In  the  narrative  of  Marco  Polo's  adven- 
tures, we  read  of  his  being  entrusted  with 
the  care  of  the  Imperial  Princess,  whom 
he  conducted  by  ship  to  Persia,  where  she 
was  to  become  the  wife  of  Arghun  Khan, 
himself  a  great-nephew  of  Kublai  Khan. 
There  are,  too,  other  instances  of  these  dip- 
lomatic marriages,  but  they  are  not  many, 
and  usually  the  princesses  of  the  imperial 
Manchu  house  were  doomed  to  celibacy.  In 
youth  they  were  permitted  to  be  Maids  of 
Honor  to  the  empress,  and  when  they  were 
older  they  frequently  had  to  retire  into  a 
monastery  or  retreat. 

They,  like  most  of  the  girls  of  China  in 
all   classes,  received  very  little  education, 


A   CHINESE   girl's   LIFE  225 

and  for  them  life  was  rather  a  dreary  exist- 
ence. Amongst  girls  of  the  higher  classes, 
yet  below  the  imperial  circle,  the  life  of  a 
girl  was  not  necessarily  a  hard  one.  We 
may  not  be  able  to  think  favorably  of  the 
way  they  were  given  in  marriage  and  of  the 
attitude  of  superiority  assumed  towards 
them  by  the  mother-in-law  especially,  yet 
they  had  a  certain  consolation  in  the  thought 
that  time  would  adjust  matters,  surely  so 
if  they  were  so  fortunate  as  to  have  sons. 
In  the  homes  of  the  well-to-do,  and  even  in 
those  where  the  family  had  to  be  frugal,  to 
make  both  ends  meet,  yet  not  forever  facing 
the  dreadful  poverty  which  has  been  men- 
tioned, provision  was  made  to  give  bright- 
ness and  color  to  the  little  girPs  life.  She 
had  her  place  in  the  family  outings  and  in 
the  collection  of  Nursery  Rhymes  which  Dr. 
Headland  has  kindly  placed  at  our  disposal 
("Chinese  Mother  Goose  Rhymes"),  there 
are  plenty  to  show  that  when  they  could 
afford  to  do  it,  if  my  curious  expression  is 
understood,  parents  really  loved  their  girl 
babies  almost  as  much  as  they  did  the  little 
boys. 

Indeed,  amongst  those  who  did  not  have 
to  pinch  and  strain  to  keep  the  wolf  away, 
there  were  many  Chinese  who  declared  they 
would  rather  have  a  girl  child  than  not; 
because  then,  when  she  approached  the  mar- 


226     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

riageable  age  they  could  ask  the  young  man 
who  was  selected  to  be  her  husband,  to 
come  and  live  with  them  years  before  the 
wedding,  and  by  adopting  him  spare  them- 
selves entirely  the  sorrows  of  parting  with 
their  daughter. 

The  sincere  followers  of  Confucius  were 
always  shamefully  neglectful  about  their 
daughter's  education ;  yet,  as  I  have  already 
said,  it  was  not  always  true  that  girls  had 
no  education  at  all. 

The  dress  of  a  young  girl  in  former  times, 
from  her  quaint  coiffeur,  suggesting  yet  not 
imitating  precisely  that  of  her  mother,  down 
to  her  brilliantly-colored  robes,  and  pretty 
little  feet,  if  they  were  permitted  to  develop 
naturally,  or  her  awkward,  misshapen, 
cramped  ones,  was  as  attractive  as  one 
could  wish.  As  a  bride  she  was  gorgeously 
arrayed,  and  her  dower  often  meant  a  heavy 
drain  upon  her  father's  purse,  yet  it  seems 
to  have  been  willingly  accepted  whenever 
the  family  means  permitted.  After  the  wed- 
ding the  young  married  woman  changed  the 
style  of  dressing  her  hair,  and  her  entire 
costume,  to  conform  to  the  rules  of  society. 

With  the  coming  of  the  first  Christian 
(Protestant)  missionaries,  began  the  im- 
provement of  conditions  for  Chinese  girls. 
At  first  it  was  found  by  the  men  who  were 
the  pioneer  representatives  of  the  evangelis- 


A   CHINESE   girl's   LIFE  227 

tic  bodies  to  occupy  the  field,  only  a  little 
over  a  hundred  years  ago,  that  they  could 
do  nothing  with  their  work  in  the  Chinese 
families. 

But  when  the  wives  of  the  first  mission- 
aries appeared,  and  later,  more  effectively, 
when  unmarried  women  from  Christian 
countries  gave  themselves  for  the  work,  it 
was  not  long  before  they  found  their  way 
into  the  native  homes,  and  then  actually  be- 
gan the  emancipation  of  the  women  of 
China.  What  a  marvelous  change  has 
taken  place  within  the  lifetime  of  some  who 
are  still  working  in  the  foreign  field.  Even 
amongst  Chinese  who  vehemently  refuse  to 
put  away  the  religion  of  their  forefathers, 
the  position  of  the  girls  is  so  different  from 
what  it  was  formerly,  that  they  seem  almost 
to  be  new  creatures. 

The  mission  schools  were  the  first  to  give 
the  girls  some  interest  in  life  and  the  wisest 
of  the  Chinese  statesmen  realized  that  the 
progress  of  their  country,  for  which  they 
themselves  were  hoping  and  working,  could 
not  be  achieved  properly  unless  women  were 
taken  into  consideration.  This  meant  that 
girls  must  be  prepared,  when  grown  up, 
to  take  upon  themselves  the  duties  of 
women  in  a  way  that  was  without  prece- 
dent in  Chinese  history,  and  yet  which  was 
recognized  as  both  inevitable  and  desirable 


228       OUR  NEIGHBOES:     THE   CHINESE 

in  the  changed,  remodeled,  progressive 
China,  and  those  same  statesmen  were  as 
eager  to  uplift  the  girls  in  education  at 
least,  as  were  the  missionaries. 

I  knew  China  when  the  most  that  could 
be  expected  of  women  in  that  country  was 
that  they  might  become  Bible  women,  help- 
ers, and  interpreters  for  the  foreign  women 
missionaries.  It  is  difficult  for  me  to  real- 
ize that  there  are  Chinese  young  women 
who  have  sole  charge  of  hospitals;  that 
young  girls  are  studying  medicine  and  fit- 
ting themselves  to  become  expert  nurses,  and 
in  a  thousand  ways  demonstrating  most  in- 
contestibly  that  they  are  fully  able  to  do 
whatever  their  sisters  of  the  West  can  do. 

The  life  of  the  Chinese  girl  to-day  is  so 
different  from  what  her  mother's  was  that 
it  is  difficult  to  recognize  society  in  that 
land.  There  are,  as  has  been  intimated, 
traces  of  liberty  having  been  debased  into 
license;  and  the  reactionary  performances 
of  the  Chinese  suffragettes  are,  if  possible, 
more  displeasing  than  are  those  of  their 
English  sisters,  simply  because  the  contrast 
between  the  normal  and  the  abnormal  is 
greater  in  China  than  it  is  in  Great  Britain. 
Yet  I  do  not  seriously  apprehend  that  this 
misconstruing  of  privileges,  coming  from 
emancipation,  into  the  right  to  be  destruc- 


A   CHINESE   GIEl's   LIFE  229 

tive,  is  at  all  likely  to  be  permanent  or  con- 
spicuously general  in  China. 

It  is  not  at  all  surprising  that  neither  in 
advanced  Japan  nor  in  progressive  China, 
has  there  yet  been  any  apparent  disposition 
on  the  part  of  girls  and  young  women  to 
take  up  the  stage  as  a  profession.  In  both 
countries,  until  a  very  few  years  ago  even  in 
Japan,  the  actors  were  considered  as  a  class 
so  low  in  the  social  scale  that  it  was  deemed 
a  disgrace  for  any  man  of  respectable 
family  to  associate  with  them.  Yet  strange 
and  inconsistent  as  it  must  seem,  parents 
of  the  greatest  refinement  and  purest  morals 
would  take  their  daughters  to  witness  per- 
formances of  dramas  that  were  far  from 
being  suited  to  young  people,  whether  girls 
or  boys.  Furthermore,  all  female  parts 
were  taken  by  boys,  and  there  were,  there- 
fore, no  actresses. 

Recently,  as  many  know,  the  experiment 
of  having  at  least  the  principal  female  roles 
interpreted  by  women,  has  been  tried 
amongst  the  Japanese,  and  some  American 
audiences  have  had  the  pleasure  (?)  of  lis- 
tening to  at  least  one  Japanese  actress  who 
posed  as  a  star.  China  has  not  yet  ad- 
vanced so  far  along  this  progressive  path, 
and  it  is  very  doubtful  if  the  people  will  be 
induced  to  countenance  it  for  a  very  long 


230     ouE  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

time  to  come.  Social  lines  must  be  entirely 
changed  before  it  would  be  possible  for  a 
respectable  woman  to  appear  on  the  stage, 
and  the  drama  itself  will  have  to  be  remod- 
eled before  such  a  thing  is  possible. 

In  some  of  the  girls'  schools  under  the 
management  of  foreign  women  teachers,  the 
pupils  have  been  permitted  and  even  encour- 
aged to  give  private  performances  to  which 
their  female  friends  w^ere  admitted.  Some 
of  those  who  were  favored  with  the  oppor- 
tunity to  witness  these  plays,  say  that  many 
of  the  girls  displayed  much  ability  in  inter- 
pretation of  their  characters  and  in  the 
reading  of  the  lines. 

There  is  one  thing  to  say  for  Chinese  girls 
and  women,  which  is  that  when  they  are 
convinced  that  duty  calls  upon  them  to  ad- 
vocate a  just  cause,  they  display  remarkable 
ability  to  overcome  their  natural  timidity, 
and  oftentimes  they  speak  well  in  public. 
The  very  first  Chinese  lady  who  visited 
England  for  the  purpose  of  asking  greater 
assistance  than  had  been  given  towards  help- 
ing to  bring  out  the  Chinese  women,  was  a 
surprise  to  all.  Her  gentle  force,  her  clear- 
ness of  presentation,  and  her  facility  of 
speech,  made  an  impression  which  caused 
hearty  response  to  her  plea.  The  same 
thing  may  be  said  of  many  Chinese  young 
women  who  have  spoken  to  American  audi- 
ences. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

TRAVELING  IN  CHINA 

THE  carriages  and  carts  which  are 
credited  to  the  Chinese  of  a  remote 
past,  and  which  have  already  been  briefly 
alluded  to,  were  rather  poor  makeshifts  for 
traveling.  Apparently  their  use  was  re- 
stricted to  the  imperial  family  and  officials 
of  government  who  represented  the  emperor. 
Those  for  His  Imperial  Majesty  himself 
were  doubtless  very  gorgeous  affairs,  so  far 
as  exterior  decoration  was  concerned,  but  we 
should,  I  fear,  be  somewhat  disposed  to  liken 
them,  veiy  impolitely,  to  be  sure,  to  the 
gilded  and  bepictured  boxes  which  cut  such 
an  important  figure  in  the  processions  of 
circuses  and  menageries  that  sometimes 
pass  through  our  streets. 

They  were  simply  boxes,  the  floor  of  which 
rested  riglit  on  the  axle,  guiltless  of  springs 
or  any  appliances  to  take  up  the  jolting,  and 
the  Chinese  have  not  been  conspicuous  for 
smooth  roads,  even  if  some  of  their  highways 
have  been  remarkably  permanent.  But  a 
road  that  is  laid  with  great  slabs  of  granite 
which  are  not  fitted  together  properly,  can- 
not be  a  very  comfortable  one  to  drive  over. 

231 


232     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

The  slabs  slip  away  from  one  another,  leav- 
ing wide  spaces  into  which  the  wheels 
descend  with  a  bump  that  nearly  dislocates 
every  joint  of  the  inside  traveler,  and  no 
amount  of  cushions  can  sufl&ce  to  diminish 
greatly  that  jolting.  The  old  bridges,  too, 
were  usually  made  with  similar  huge  granite 
slabs  either  laid  crosswise  or  longitudinally, 
and  these  were,  if  possible,  even  greater  tor- 
tures than  the  roadways. 

The  draft  animals  were  either  bullocks  or 
horses.  If  the  occupant  of  the  carriage 
were  a  person  of  great  importance,  or  the 
occasion  demanded  or  justified  the  extrava- 
gance, there  might  be  two  or  three  of  these 
draft  animals  strung  in  tandem :  the  wheel 
horse  or  bullock  would  be  harnessed  into 
the  shafts  and  each  one  of  the  others  was 
hitched  independently  by  traces  —  ropes 
usually  —  direct  to  the  axle  of  the  vehicle; 
so  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  united 
power  of  the  animals  to  be  given  to  the  task 
of  drawing  the  carriage. 

These  closed  carriages  were  entered,  and 
left,  by  the  front  which  was  open,  by  climb- 
ing over  the  shaft  as  gracefully  as  could  be 
done:  the  driver  sat  right  over  the  shaft 
animal.  If  the  rain  drove  in,  or  the  wind 
was  too  strong,  or  the  sun  beat  in  too 
fiercely,  there  was  a  curtain  to  be  let  down 


TRAVELING    IN    CHINA  233 

and  thus  were  the  stuffiness  and  discomfort 
of  the  interior  increased. 

There  were,  also,  the  carts  at  the  service 
of  the  traveler.  These  were  simply  open 
boxes  w4th  low  sides.  The  travelers  stowed 
away  themselves  and  their  belongings  as 
they  liked;  the  first  comer  always  appro- 
priating the  lion's  share  of  the  space,  and 
the  most  comfortable  place,  of  course,  and 
made  room  for  the  rest  only  when  compelled 
to  do  so. 

Another  wheeled  vehicle,  especially  pop- 
ular in  the  north  for  going  short  distances, 
was  the  wheelbarrow.  It  had  a  large  wheel 
in  the  center,  with  narrow  platforms  on 
either  side  thereof  upon  which  the  travelers 
reclined,  resting  against  the  center  w'hich 
served  to  protect  them  from  the  wheel. 
Long  handles  projected  toward  the  rear  and 
were  held  by  the  coolie  who  w^as  the  motive 
power.  He  often  eased  his  burden  some- 
what by  a  rope  attached  to  the  handles  and 
passing  over  his  shoulders.  Occasionally 
an  extra  coolie  —  or  even  two  or  three  — 
was  hitched  to  the  front  of  the  wheelbarrow 
and  when  the  road  was  fairly  good,  they 
could  trot  along  at  six  or  seven  miles  an 
hour.  In  some  ways  these  Chinese  wheel- 
barrows recalled  the  Irish  jaunting-car. 

It  was  very  amusing  to  see  the  proprietor 


234     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

of  one  of  these  wheelbarrows  on  the  way 
from  his  home  to  his  customary  stand  in  the 
morning,  or  returning  at  nightfall.  Instead 
of  trundling  the  vehicle  in  front  of  him  as 
we  should  expect  him  to  do,  he  generally 
took  the  various  sections  apart,  divided 
wheel,  shafts,  seat,  etc.,  into  two  portions 
which  he  slung  at  the  ends  of  his  long  carry- 
ing stick.  Then  he  stooped  down,  put  the 
stick  across  one  shoulder  and  raising  the 
load  from  the  ground,  carried  the  whole 
thing  away. 

I  have  used  the  past  tense  in  writing  of 
these  various  wheeled  vehicles,  but  they  are 
all  to  be  seen  even  now  in  parts  of  the  coun- 
try to  which  the  railway  has  not  pene- 
trated, or  where  there  are  no  long  carriages 
something  like  an  omnibus  plying  regularly 
along  the  highroad.  But  wheeled  vehicles 
do  not  seem  ever  to  have  been  remarkably 
popular  with  the  Chinese  traveler  who  had 
but  a  short  distance  to  go,  or  when  his  jour- 
ney was  somewhat  lengthy,  yet  might  be 
broken  at  times  where  accommodations  were 
to  be  had  at  an  inn. 

In  these  cases,  the  traveler  usually  pre- 
ferred to  walk  and  combine  business  or 
pleasure  with  the  necessity  for  going  from 
home  on  his  journey.  If  he  were  a  literary 
man  or  a  philosopher,  there  would  often 
be  memorial  arches,  raised  in  honor  of  some 


TRAVELING  IN    CHINA  235 

famous  man,  or  to  a  widow  whose  faith- 
fulness to  the  memory  of  her  departed 
spouse,  or  whose  diligence  in  securing  an 
education  for  her  sons,  had  appealed  to  the 
people  or  the  officials.  Appreciation  took 
the  form  of  a  stone  archway  that  looks 
like  a  huge,  over-ornate  gateway;  but  with- 
out the  gates.  Or  there  might  be  any  one 
of  a  hundred  other  things  to  attract  the 
attention  of  the  traveler,  when  the  leisure 
of  walking  permitted  of  an  examination 
which  could  not  be  had  were  the  traveler  in 
carriage,  cart  or  wheelbarrow. 

The  itinerary  merchant  found  many  an 
opportunity  to  turn  a  penny,  if  he  was  on 
foot.  But  all  Chinese  prefer,  whenever  it 
is  possible,  to  travel  by  water,  and  there  is 
no  country  on  earth  of  which  it  may  so 
fitly  be  said  that  the  wisdom  of  Providence 
is  displayed  in  no  way  so  striking  as  the 
causing  of  rivers  to  flow  past  the  large  cities 
and  towns!  I  cannot  give  the  credit  due 
for  this  brilliant  (?)  piece  of  logic. 

So  marked  is  the  Chinese  preference  for 
traveling  by  water,  that  frequently  a  jour- 
ney of  hundreds  of  miles  and  covering  sev- 
eral days,  is  taken  rather  than  the  overland 
trip  of  a  tenth  tlie  distance  and  of  only  a 
few  hours'  duration.  The  coasting  steam- 
ers which  ply  between  the  various  open 
ports  from  Hongkong  to  Tieustin,  and  the 


236     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

score  or  more  of  intermediate  places  are 
always  crowded,  in  the  steerage  at  any  rate. 

The  rivers  are  covered  with  crafts  of  all 
sorts  and  kinds,  and  even  the  slow-going 
cargo-boats  will  usually  have  their  comple- 
ment of  passengers.  Many  of  the  passen- 
ger crafts  along  the  rivers,  canals,  and  inte- 
rior waterways,  are  barges  with  two  or  even 
three  decks,  and  into  them  human  beings 
are  crowded  in  defiance  of  all  regulations 
that  might  lessen  danger  or  contribute  to 
rescue  in  the  event  of  accident.  Those 
barges  are  often  towed  by  steam  launches 
and  altogether  too  frequently  one  or  more  of 
the  tow  —  for  it  is  not  uncommon  to  see  sev- 
eral of  them  strung  out  behind  the  little 
steamer  —  will  be  capsized  in  a  collision  or 
some  untoward  mishap,  and  then  the  loss 
of  life  is  appalling;  for  boxed  in  like  sar- 
dines, as  are  the  passengers,  there  is  little 
chance  of  escape  or  rescue. 

When  I  first  went  to  the  Far  East,  in  18G6, 
it  was  an  unusual  thing  for  a  Chinese  to 
ask  for  first  cabin  accommodation  in  the 
smaller  English  or  Frencli  steamers  that 
plied  between  Hongkong  and  Foochow,  or 
the  larger  vessels  which  came  from  Europe 
and  went  on  to  Slianghai,  or,  again,  the 
coasters  from  Shanghai  north,  as  well  as 
the  river  steamers  on  the  Yang-tze. 

This  was  not  because  of  any  disposition 


TRAVELING   IN    CHINA  237 

to  refuse  them  the  privilege;  but  it  was 
wholly  due  to  the  natives'  proper  ideas  of 
economy.  They  could  go  in  the  second  class 
for  less  that  one-half  the  fare  for  a  first 
class  ticket ;  or  in  the  steerage  for  very  much 
less  than  the  second  class  fare,  and  their 
ideas  of  comfort  were  not  at  all  shocked 
by  the  rough  accommodations  in  the  steer- 
age. Besides,  very  few  of  the  Chinese  had 
then  come  to  like  the  cabin  fare,  and  pre- 
ferred the  bowl  of  rice,  the  stews,  and  the 
dried  fish  which  were  served  in  other  quar- 
ters. 

All  this  has  been  entirely  changed,  and 
the  change  is  especially  noticeable  in  the 
mail  steamers  plying  between  Hongkong  and 
Singapore.  In  these  it  is  often  difficult  to 
get  a  first  class  cabin  —  or  state-room  — 
unless  application  is  made  long  before  the 
day  of  sailing,  because  those  rooms  are 
likely  to  have  been  reserved  by  the  rich  Chi- 
nese merchants  who  either  live  in  the  Straits 
Settlements,  or  whose  extensive  business  in- 
terests require  them  to  travel  back  and  forth 
frequently. 

As  many  of  them,  whose  homes  are  at 
Singapore,  or  other  towns  of  the  Straits 
Settlements,  Burma,  and  elsewhere  in  those 
Britisli  possessions,  are  bona  fide  British 
subjects,  and  properly  tenacious  as  to  their 
rights,  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  agents 


238     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

of  the  British  steamers  to  refuse  them  the 
best  the  ship  affords,  provided  they  are 
willing  to  pay  the  bill;  and  it  would  be  so 
impolitic  for  the  French,  German,  or  other 
lines  to  do  it,  that  Chinese  saloon  passen- 
gers are  always  numerous;  and  they  are 
rarely  in  any  way  objectionable. 

But  the  most  comfortable  way  to  travel 
by  land,  if  the  distance  is  not  too  great,  is 
by  the  sedan  chair.  It  is  not  markedly  dis- 
similar to  the  chair  that  is  depicted  in 
English  books  of  a  hundred  years  or  so  ago, 
and  which  is  to  be  seen  even  in  American 
pictures  of  about  that  same  period.  The 
tall,  box-like  structure  has  a  seat  at  the 
right  height.  It  is  entered  from  the  open 
front,  when  the  rear  carrier  tips  the  chair 
forward  so  that  the  passenger  may  step 
over  the  carrying  poles  in  front.  Cushions 
and  arm  rests  add  to  the  comfort;  and  pri- 
vacy may  be  secured  by  lowering  the  side 
curtains.  On  each  side  at  about  the  level 
of  the  inside  arm  rest,  is  a  long  pole  stretch- 
ing front  and  back.  These  are  lashed  to- 
gether so  that  tliey  will  just  fit  nicely  to 
the  bearers'  shoulders.  Usually  there  are 
but  two  coolies  and  what  they  can  do  is 
almost  as  surprising  as  are  the  feats  cred- 
ited to  the  famous  Japanese  jinrikishamen. 

In  the  palmy  days  of  the  mandarins,  by 
an  ingenious  device  of  crossing  short  poles 


TRAVELING   IN   CHINA  239 

at  front  and  back,  and  then  lashing  others 
longitudinally  to  these,  it  was  possible  to 
multiply  the  number  of  bearers  until  there 
were  as  many  as  a  dozen  at  each  end  of  the 
carrying  poles.  When  the  emperor  went 
abroad  in  his  magnificent  sedan  chair,  the 
number  of  bearers  was  quite  that  many, 
and  they  were  carefully  selected  so  as  to 
be  of  about  equal  stature  and  then  they  were 
trained  to  keep  step  in  equal  stride  so  as 
to  eliminate  all  unpleasant  swaying  and 
irregular  motion. 

Very  often  the  sedan  chair  was  increased 
in  size,  longitudinally,  until  it  became  a 
large  palanquin  or  closed  litter;  the  carry- 
ing poles  were  greatly  lengthened  and  firmly 
lashed  to  the  pack-saddles  of  bullocks  or 
horses,  one  in  front  and  one  behind,  and 
each  of  those  animals  was  led  by  a  groom. 
In  such  a  capacious  vehicle,  it  was  an  easy 
matter  for  an  entire  family  to  be  stowed 
away,  provided  the  father  was  not  too  big 
a  man  or  the  children  not  too  numerous  or 
too  large. 

For  traveling  in  remote  districts,  and  es- 
pecially in  mountain  regions,  the  Chinese 
travelers  preferred  the  mountain  sedan 
chair,  which  was  similar  to  tlie  one  that 
has  been  described,  only  it  was  rather 
lighter;  but  saddle-horses  were  perhaps  more 
popular,  and  this  last  mentioned  mode  of 


240     ouE  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

travel  is  practically  the  only  one  which 
foreign  men  would  think  of  using.  Ladies 
and  children,  foreigners  or  natives,  going 
to  mountain  resorts  make  use  of  the 
jinrikisha,  the  sedan  chair,  or  the  horse 
litter. 

Of  the  Chinese  railways  there  is  little  to 
say.  They  are  very  commonplace  and  the 
second  and  third  class  coaches  are  always 
overcrowded ;  for  it  is  amazing  how  the  Chi- 
nese peasants  have  taken  to  this  way  of 
traveling.  The  American  style  of  car  is 
generally  most  common,  although  some  lines 
display  a  preference  for  the  European  com- 
partment carriage.  On  most  of  the  lines 
something  remains  to  be  done  in  the  matter 
of  cleanliness  and  creature  comfort;  but 
doubtless  such  defects  will  be  remedied  as 
time  goes  on  and  passengers  assert  them- 
selves more  vigorously.  The  fact  that  one 
can  to-day  speak  of  the  "  thousands  of  miles 
of  railways  in  China,"  is  in  itself  a  sign  of 
what  a  tremendous  change  has  come  over 
that  land  within  a  decade  or  two. 

Traveling  naturally  brings  to  mind  hotel 
accommodations.  At  all  the  principal  open 
ports,  at  Hongkong  and  Macao,  some  of  the 
smaller  ports  even,  there  are  excellent  hotels 
and  boarding  houses  for  the  convenience  of 
Western  travelers.  These  hardly  need  to  be 
considered  here,  and  it  is  sufl&cient  to  say 


TRAVELING   IN   CHINA  241 

that  there  are  "  European "  hotels,  con- 
nected with  which  there  are  usually  good 
restaurants,  and  "  American "  hotels,  in 
which'  the  rate  per  day  includes  room  and 
meals  with  full  attendance.  This  latter 
style  of  hostelry  is  decidedly  more  popular 
even  with  visitors  from  Europe  than  is  the 
kind  of  hotel  to  which  they  are  generally 
supposed  to  be  accustomed. 

The  few  travelers  who  leave  the  beaten 
tracks  and  plunge  into  the  interior,  must 
be  prepared  to  put  up  with  what  the  coun- 
try affords.  The  apartments  may  be  clean, 
but  the  chances  against  it  are  rather  more 
than  even.  The  earliest  European  travel- 
ers in  China,  as  a  rule,  give  the  hotels  a 
pretty  fair  reputation,  and  they  speak  of 
the  landlords  in  a  favorable  way,  w^hich 
cannot,  I  fear,  be  confirmed  by  those  who 
visit  the  remote  provinces  nowadays. 

Of  food,  except  in  the  unfortunate  dis- 
tricts which  happen  to  be  temporarily 
famine-stricken,  there  is  usually  an  abun- 
dance of  its  kind.  The  principal  raw  meat 
offered  for  sale  is  pork ;  tlie  vegetables 
rarely  include  the  useful  potato,  but  of 
chickens,  ducks,  and  eggs  tliere  are  always 
plenty.  Bread  is  practically  an  unknown 
quantity,  and  for  it  the  ever  present  boiled 
rice  is  a  satisfactory  substitute  or  not  ac- 
cording to  individual  taste.     Although  the 


242     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

Chinese  do  use  salt  in  the  preparation  of 
food,  unlike  our  Japanese  neighbors,  it  is 
well  for  the  stranger  to  provide  himself 
with  a  bottle  of  this  important  condiment. 
The  best  way  for  tourists  to  get  along  is 
to  secure  the  services  of  a  cook  who  has 
some  qualifications  as  an  interpreter  in  the 
particular  districts  it  is  proposed  to  visit, 
and  let  him  prepare  all  the  meals,  purchas- 
ing the  raw  materials  as  he  can.  He  will, 
of  course,  take  his  commission,  "  squeeze," 
that  is  an  established  custom  in  the  Far 
East ;  but  this  unlawful  addition  to  the  mess 
bill  will  hardly  bankrupt  the  traveler ! 


CHAPTER  XIX 

HOW  THE  CHINESE  LIVE 

ENOUGH  has  been  said  at  various  places 
in  this  book,  of  the  habitations  of  our 
Chinese  neighbors,  and  it  is  not  where  they 
live  but  rather  upon  what  they  feed  to  live, 
that  this  chapter  treats.  I  ought,  perhaps, 
to  correct  a  misapprehension  which  some- 
thing that  has  been  said  about  the  height 
of  the  Chinese  residence  may  cause.  It  is 
true  that  the  people  dislike  climbing  up 
more  than  one  flight  of  stairs,  and  conse- 
quently few  of  their  houses  are  more  than 
two  stories  in  height;  yet  in  crowded  cities 
where  land  values  are  somewhat  on  a  parity 
with  those  of  the  great  places  in  other  lands, 
houses  run  up  to  three,  four,  five,  or  per- 
haps more  stories,  and  are  as  crowded  as 
are  tlie  tenements  of  any  place  on  earth; 
for  sanitary  inspectors  to  see  that  the  proper 
allowance  of  cubic  feet  of  air  space  for 
each  occupant  of  a  room,  have  not  yet  been 
appointed  in  China,  or  permitted  to  gain 
an  unlawful  livelihood  by  accepting  bribes 
to  see  that  regulations  are  flagrantly  dis- 
obeyed. Perhaps  these  conditions  will  soon 
be  acconi])lished  I 

243 


244     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

On  my  return  from  the  first  sojourn  in 
China,  I  was  constantly  asked  how  I  got 
along  in  that  land  for  food;  and  if  I  was 
compelled  to  conform  to  the  native  custom 
of  eating  dogs  and  cats  and  rats.  It 
seemed  to  be  taken  as  a  rule,  of  course, 
that  those  animals  constituted  the  staple 
diet  of  the  Chinese,  although  it  was  always 
admitted  that  they  ate  some  rice,  and  occa- 
sionally partook  of  fish  when  the  daintier 
animals  I  have  named  were  not  procurable. 

I  have  never  taken  the  time  to  run  to 
earth  the  absurd  idea  that  the  Chinese  pre- 
fer dogs  and  cats  and  rats  to  all  other 
kinds  of  fresh  meat ;  and  if  I  were  to  under- 
take the  task,  I  really  should  not  know 
where  to  begin.  The  fable  is  mentioned  in 
the  most  casual  way  by  plenty  of  writers, 
but  they  always  ridicule  the  notion,  just  as 
I  do,  and  not  one  of  them  has  ever  taken 
the  trouble  to  tell  us  how  the  myth  started. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  some  poor  Chinese 
would  gladly  eat  a  steak  cut  from  a  fat 
dog,  or  a  cat  chop  or  a  rat  stew,  if  he  were 
on  the  verge  of  starvation;  I  am  sure  I 
should  do  so  in  such  circumstances. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, when  emigi'ants  from  Europe  were 
swarming  across  the  ocean  in  sailing  ves- 
sels that  were  inadequately  supplied  with 
stores,  a  rat  fetched  eighteen  pence,  and  a 


HOW   THE    CHINESE   LIVE  245 

mouse  sixpence :  or,  converted  into  our  pres- 
ent currency,  those  prices  would  equal  about 
fifty  and  twenty  cents. 

I  know,  too,  that  there  are  extraordinary 
superstitions  rife  amongst  the  Chinese  about 
the  efficacy  of  certain  parts  of  these  animals 
for  the  cure  of  some  diseases.  Rats'  meat 
was  supposed  by  some  to  be  particularly 
good  as  an  aphrodisiac,  and  the  curious 
traveler  might,  if  he  hunted  carefully,  find 
a  shop  wherein  it  is  sold  for  this  purpose; 
but  I  rather  doubt  it. 

So,  too,  the  inquisitive  stranger  might 
find  a  shop,  patronized  by  old  women  whose 
hair  is  falling  out  too  rapidly  to  please 
their  vanitj',  wherein  rats'  meat  is  sold  to 
be  prepared  as  a  stew  with  certain  other 
things.  This  dish  is  not  eaten  as  a  table 
delicacy  to  gratify  the  palate,  but  because 
it  is  supposed  to  stop  the  hair  coming  out, 
and  even  to  restore  the  growth  of  that 
which  is  considered  the  crown  of  a  wom- 
an's glory  as  much,  in  China  as  anywhere 
else. 

In  the  south  it  used  to  be  considered  that 
the  flesh  of  black  cats  and  dogs  (the  density 
of  the  color  enhancing  their  value)  would 
prevent  the  diseases  common  in  midsum- 
mer, and  secure  the  eater's  gcMieral  health 
tliroughout  tlie  ensuing  year;  but  this  again 
is,  I  fancv,  an  old-wives'  tale  that  is  now 


246     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

consigned  to  the  realms  of  myth  and  ex- 
ploded superstition. 

Yet  this  idea  of  the  queer  gastronomic 
habits  of  the  Chinese  is  strangely  persist- 
ent, and  it  is  not  six  months  since  my  at- 
tempt to  refute  the  statement  that  dogs 
and  cats  and  rats  are  a  staple  article  of 
food  even  in  the  progressive  Chinese  Repub- 
lic of  to-day,  was  received  with  a  plain  look 
of  incredulity,  and  poorly-concealed  sur- 
prise that  a  man  who  pretended  to  have 
lived  amongst  the  Chinese  had  made  such 
poor  use  of  his  opportunities  as  not  to  know 
what  everybody  ought  to. 

At  some  of  the  "  swell "  restaurants  in 
Chinese  cities,  dog  meat  used  to  be  served  by 
name  in  various  ways,  and  it  was  decidedly 
not  a  cheap  dish.  But  even  so,  if  —  as  was 
always  the  case  —  the  puppies  were  fed 
from  the  time  they  were  weaned  upon  noth- 
ing but  good  rice,  milk,  and  other  clean,  fit- 
ting food,  and  carefully  kept  from  roaming 
about  to  pick  up  anything  filthy,  I  fail  to 
see  that  their  meat  was  one  bit  more  un- 
wholesome or  repulsive  in  any  way  than  is 
that  of  a  young  calf;  and  the  same  thing 
may  be  said  of  kittens,  for  when  they  were 
offered  as  a  dish,  they  too  had  been  raised 
in  the  same  way. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  our  Chinese  neigh- 
bors are  the  most  sanitary  and  wisest  eaters 


HOW   THE   CHINESE   LIVE         247 

in  the  Far  East.     Most  of  their  food  is  well 
]  cooked ;  if  this  were  not  true  there  would 
I  be  far  greater  ravages  from  cholera  and 
zymotic  diseases  than  there  is,  for  the  few 
)  vegetables  and  fruits  which  they  eat  raw 
are   not   cultivated   in   the   most   sanitary 
manner.     The  way  they  use  fertilizer  is  not 
conducive  to  the  best  results  as  preventive 
of  infectious  disease,  because  of  the  uni- 
versal use  of  night-soil  for  this  purpose. 

Beef  is  now  far  more  popular  than  it 
used  to  be,  because  formerly  the  animals 
were  considered  too  useful  to  be  slaugh- 
tered, and  when  they  had  outlived  their  use- 
fulness as  farm  animals,  there  was  too 
little  flesh  left  on  their  poor  bones  to  make 
a  decent  meal;  while  what  little  there  w^as 
was  too  tough  to  yield  to  the  most  skilful 
cook's  treatment.  Mutton  was  and  is  com- 
mon and  good  in  the  north.  It  has  always 
been  practically  unknown  in  the  south  for 
there  was  no  suitable  grazing  land  until 
the  extreme  western  part  of  the  country 
was  reached,  where  the  hill  pastures  were 
not  cultivable;  there  it  becomes  popular 
again. 

The  Chinese  who  gave  any  sort  of  alle- 
giance to  Buddhistic  teachings,  always  re- 
fused to  conform  to  the  alleged  injunction 
to  refrain  from  eating  flesli  of  any  kind. 
Consequently  everything  in  the  meat   line 


248     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

that  they  could  afford  to  eat  (that  is  when 
the  animal  was  not  considered  more  use- 
ful in  some  other  way  than  as  food)  has 
always  been  consumed,  from  the  flesh  of 
wild  animals  down  to  young  chickens,  duck- 
lings, and  goslings. 

Poultry,  including  chickens,  ducks  and 
geese,  is  plentiful ;  the  last  mentioned  being 
the  best  of  all.  The  Chinese  are  very  fond 
of  game  birds  as  food ;  swan,  pheasant,  quail, 
and  even  the  peacock  are  eaten  by  those 
w^ho  can  afford  to  do  so.  My  Chinese 
friends  assured  me  that  eggs  which  had 
been  preserved  in  salt  for  two  or  three  years 
are  particularly  good;  but  I  was  always 
willing  to  take  their  word  for  it  without 
insisting  upon  proving  the  truth  of  what 
they  said  by  personal  experiment. 

There  certainly  is  no  such  thing  as  a 
sensible  dispute  about  what  kinds  of  food 
are  of  good  taste  (de  gustibus  non  est  dis- 
piitandum).  The  Chinese  gourmet  turns 
away  from  the  Englishman's  slice  of  roast- 
beef,  when  the  blood  follows  the  knife;  or 
the  German's  raw  beefsteak,  or  the  Ameri- 
can's mince  pie;  or  the  Frenchman's  snails, 
with  just  the  same  disgust  that  we  feel  at 
his  two-year-old  eggs  or  his  saute  of  fat 
puppy  dogs !  I  am  sure  my  Chinese  friends 
have  to  overcome  quite  as  much  prejudice 
before  they  learn  to  appreciate  a  terrapin 


> 


'"/-^■'" 

•    •  ."^'«                        ft      (' 

> 

i    .T,      ' 

..p^i^^V  • 

r 

'^'If 

4       '■■j:f^J^r:    ■  -fi^ 

•  -     s?^^'.-i^i:^^^ 

^iit 

^             ^"^ 

k 

^ 

l«.     J 

L..^J^ 

j«'     « 

Tl^BHl 

■K^..JB&XS 

H^^HB^ 

HOW   THE   CHINESE   LIVE         249 

stew,  as  I  did  before  I  realized  that  sharks' 
fins,  and  birds'  nest  soup  were  quite  pala- 
table. 

If  there  is  precious  little  that  treads  the 
earth  or  flies  in  the  air  which  Chinese  will 
not  eat,  it  is  perfectly  true  that  of  the 
things  which  live  in  the  sea,  all  is  fish  that 
comes  to  the  Chinese  net;  and  the  wonder 
is  that  the  close-meshed  nets  which  they 
drag  in  the  smallest  stream,  or  haul  along 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  had  not  long  ago  de- 
pleted both  inland  and  sea  waters  of  every- 
thing like  animal  life.  Yet  thanks  to  a 
prodigal  Nature  which  has  provided  that 
fish  shall  reproduce  by  the  millions  and 
hundreds  of  millions,  the  supplies  appear 
to  be  as  bountiful  as  ever. 

Every  device  that  the  ingenuity  of  man 
can  accomplish  is  made  use  of  to  capture 
the  highly  prized  inhabitants  of  the  sea, 
no  matter  what  their  size  may  be.  Besides 
the  commonest  ones,  with  which  every  one 
is  familiar,  there  are  some  which  are  rather 
unusual,  N  The  fish  are  induced  to  jump 
into  boats  by  hanging  over  the  sides  painted 
boards  in  the  daytime,  or  by  a  lantern 
adroitly  placed  at  night.  Long  guiding 
nets  are  set  in  shallow  water  and  these  lead 
to  "  pounds  " ;  then  tlie  fishermen,  by  clap- 
ping boards  together,  pounding  on  any 
metallic  vessel  with  sticks,  and  by  making 


250     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

a  frightful  din  in  any  way  they  can,  drive 
the  fish  from  deep  water  into  these  pounds. 

Many  trained  cormorants  are  also  used 
to  assist  the  fishermen;  and  —  as  is  the 
case  in  Japan  —  these  birds  are  furnished 
with  a  collar  that  is  just  tight  enough  to 
prevent  the  bird  swallowing  the  fish.  The 
collar  has  to  be  removed  when  the  bird  has 
been  despoiled  of  three  or  four  of  its  cap- 
tures, and  the  cormorant  allowed  to  take 
its  toll;  otherwise  it  will  sulk  and  refuse 
to  catch  anything. 

One  of  the  most  satisfactory  ways  of  tak- 
ing a  holiday  in  China  used  to  be  (and  I 
presume  it  is  still  popular)  to  go  off  for  a 
week  or  so  in  a  houseboat.  Those  craft  — 
before  the  days  of  the  luxurious  and  more 
speedy  yacht  —  were  either  native  boats 
converted  to  suit  the  foreign  owner's  habits, 
or  built  expressly  for  him.  I  shall  not  take 
time  to  describe  one  fully,  only  I  Avill  say 
that  we  old-timers,  who  know  both  the 
houseboat  and  the  steam  yacht,  unanimously 
give  our  preference  to  the  former. 

There  was  always  some  purpose  in  these 
trips  —  a  nominal  one,  if  not  really  a  se- 
rious one ;  we  went  to  shoot  sea-fowls,  or  to 
catch  fish,  or  to  visit  some  temple  or 
famous  place.  One  cook  and  our  "  boys," 
as  men's  body-servants  were  called,  accom- 
panied us,  and  two  or  three  times  a  day  a 


HOW   THE   CHINESE   LIVE         251 

fisherman  would  come  alongside  to  offer 
live  fish  for  sale;  they  had  been  caught  in 
his  nets  and  then  kept  alive  in  the  well 
amidships  of  his  boat,  the  water  being  fre- 
quently renewed.  The  hucksters  would 
come  with  whatever  they  had,  and  occa- 
sionally, if  we  were  in  a  very  civilized  sec- 
tion, the  traveling  butcher  would  pay  us  a 
visit.  Fruits,  nuts,  sweetmeats  (of  their 
kind,  and  rarely  purchased  for  us,)  were 
plentiful ;  and  with  what  we  had  in  the 
well-supplied  store  room,  we  lived  like 
kings. 

If  the  Chinese  do  not  vie  with  the  Rus- 
sians in  the  consumption  of  caviare,  they 
are  certainly  their  rivals  in  eating  the  flesh 
of  the  sturgeon.  This  fish  is  not,  of  course, 
found  in  the  south ;  but  in  winter  plenty  are 
taken  in  the  Sungari  River,  and  other 
streams  of  Mongolia  and  Manchuria.  The 
best  of  the  captures  used  to  be  hurried  off 
to  Peking  to  be  served  at  the  imperial  table, 
being  considered  a  great  delicacy. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  we  have  taught 
the  Chinese  much  about  harvesting  ice  to 
preserve  provisions.  Long  ago  they  cut 
and  stored  ice  —  in  the  north  of  course  — 
and  made  good  use  of  it  in  summer.  The 
only  thing  we  can  claim  in  this  matter  is 
to  have  made  the  ice  accessible  to  those  who 
formerly    could   not   afford   to   buy   it,   by 


252     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

erecting  plants  for  the  manufacture  of  arti- 
ficial ice  at  some  of  the  ports.  Yet  to  show 
how  purely  artificial  is  this  taste  for  ice 
and  iced  drinks,  I  may  say  that  during  all 
the  years  of  my  first  sojourn  in  China,  I 
saw  ice  just  once.  The  deep  wells  were 
quite  sufficient  to  cool  our  drinks  and  pre- 
serve food.  The  Chinese  themselves  knew 
this  as  well  as  we  did. 

When  the  time  came  for  me  to  leave  Swa- 
tow  and  return  home,  several  of  my  na- 
tive friends  joined  together  to  entertain  me 
at  a  farewell  banquet.  The  invitations  to 
this  were  sent  to  all  the  foreign  men  of  the 
community,  excepting  those  who,  our  hosts 
knew  well,  were  "  not  in  our  set."  Those 
invitations  were  huge  pieces  of  red  paper 
on  which  an  expert  chirographist  had  writ- 
ten in  beautiful  Chinese  script,  not  the 
usual  request  to  come  and  "  drink  a  cup  of 
samshu/^  but  to  come  and  "  partake  of  a 
modest  meal  in  European  style."  My  hosts 
engaged  the  whole  of  a  large  restaurant 
and  then  borrowed  several  cooks  and  a  num- 
ber of  "  boys  "  from  the  foreign  households. 
They  sent  off  to  Hongkong  for  ice  that  cost 
them  pretty  nearly  twenty-five  cents  a 
pound,  and  they  did  all  they  could  to  make 
it  a  very  "  swell  "  affair.  They  succeeded 
remarkably  well,  and  if  they  themselves  did 


HOW   THE   CHINESE  LIVE         253 

not  actually  enjoy  tlie  food,  they  certainly 
made  a  very  clever  pretense  at  doing  so. 
Such  entertainments  are  simply  common- 
place now,  but  they  were  not  so  in  Swatow 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  century. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  WORLD  AND  THE  NEW  BEPUBLIC 

OUR  Chinese  neiglibors  have,  I  think  I 
may  safely  say,  a  feeling  towards  our- 
selves which  is  rather  warmer  and  more 
friendly  than  is  that  which  they  have  for 
some  of  the  other  peoples  of  the  world. 
There  never  was  any  disposition  on  the  part 
of  the  American  government  to  compete 
with  some  of  the  European  nations  in  get- 
ting possession  of  desirable  ports  along  the 
Chinese  coast.  The  "  grab  game "  which 
began  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, was  never  played  by  the  United 
States. 

It  seems  hardly  necessary  to  go  over  the 
whole  record  of  this  unfair  and  displeasing 
behavior  of  some  other  nations.  Whether 
we  say  that  the  first  move  was  that  of  Great 
Britain  or  that  of  Portugal,  does  not  matter 
very  much.  The  inevitable  result  of  the 
attempt  to  force  opium  upon  the  Chinese 
was  that  Canton,  the  original  dwelling 
place  of  foreigners  in  China,  became  al- 
together too  inhospitable  and  the  British 
merchants  moved  from  that  place  to  Macao ; 
but  the  latter  place  was  not  found  to  be 

254 


THE   NEW   REPUBLIC  255 

satisfactory  in  any  way  and  so  this  com- 
munity moved  to  an  almost  uninhabited 
island  which  is  now  known  as  Victoria  Is- 
land, and  upon  which  has  grown  up  the 
important  city  of  Ilongkong. 

Before  long,  and  as  the  result  of  a  war, 
that  was  victory  for  Great  Britain  and  de- 
feat for  China,  this  island  was  ceded  to 
Great  Britain.  Since  then  Great  Britain 
has  obtained  cession  of  a  large  tract  north 
of  Hongkong  and  across  an  arm  of  the  sea. 
This  extension  is  called  Kowloon.  Be- 
sides, Great  Britain  has  a  lease,  which  is 
nominally  terminable  in  certain  circum- 
stances, of  Weihaiwei. 

When  the  war  between  China  and  Japan 
came  to  an  end,  the  latter  government  asked 
and  obtained  a  lease  of  the  Liaotung  Penin- 
sula. Then  Russia,  supported  by  Germany 
and  France,  compelled  Japan  to  relinquish 
this  concession,  and  in  a  very  short  time 
the  lease  was  transferred  to  Russia. 
Thereupon  Great  Britain,  unwilling  to  see 
such  a  rival  getting  a  position  of  vantage, 
insisted  upon  having  a  lease  of  the  port, 
Weihaiwei,  and  the  surrounding  territory. 

Going  back  to  Macao,  the  Portuguese 
rights  at  that  place  were  secured  by  deceit. 
Tlie  French  having  despoiled  Cliina  of  ter- 
ritory in  the  southeastern  part  of  Asia, 
trying   to    include   the   ishind   of   Elainan; 


256     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

and  the  large  colony  Indo-China  is  the  re- 
sult. Then  Germany,  apparently  jealous 
of  what  her  rivals  were  securing  in  China, 
obtained  a  lease  of  Kiaochao.  The  last- 
mentioned  spoliation  came  as  a  result  of 
something  which  could  not  have  been  made 
an  excuse  for  "  grabbing  "  in  any  other  part 
of  the  world.  Some  German  missionaries 
were  assaulted  and  murdered  by  a  rabble  in 
Shangtung  Peninsula  and  Germany  exacted 
heavy  indemnity  as  well  as  the  cession  of  a 
tract  of  land.  The  justification  for  this 
demand  was  about  the  same  as  if  a  mob  in 
the  United  States  should  assault  some 
Austro-Hungarian  Slavs,  and  tlien  the 
government  of  that  country  should  take  pos- 
session of  a  harbor  on  the  New  Jersey 
coast  and  demand  a  lease  thereof  which 
would  amount  practically  to  permanent 
possession. 

In  all  of  this  appropriating  of  Chinese 
territory,  the  United  States  has  taken  no 
part  and  this  fact  has  operated  to  our  ad- 
vantage. The  American  government  al- 
ways tried  to  prevent  our  citizens  from  tak- 
ing any  part  in  the  nefarious  opium  trade; 
but  China  is  so  far  away  from  us  that  it 
was  impossible  to  control  our  merchants 
absolutely.  But  wlien  the  Chinese  govern- 
ment and  people  evinced  a  disposition  to 
stop  the  opium  trade  and  to  prevent  culti- 


THE   NEW   REPUBLIC  257 

vation  of  the  poppy,  our  government  and 
people  have  been  more  than  willing  to 
render  every  assistance  possible. 

Bishop  Brent,  of  the  American  Episco- 
pal Church,  whose  diocese  is  the  whole  of 
our  Philippine  possessions,  was  the  chair- 
man of  the  international  convention  held 
at  Shanghai  to  express  the  determination 
of  practically  all  the  Great  Pow^ers  to  assist 
China  in  obliterating  the  curse.  With 
Bishop  Brent  were  associated  actively,  rep- 
resentatives of  all  missionary  bodies  operat- 
ing in  China,  and  there  were  also  a  number 
of  influential  merchants  who  lent  their 
countenance  to  the  commendable  movement. 
This  has  likewise  had  an  excellent  effect 
upon  our  Chinese  neighbors. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  dwell  at  any 
length  upon  the  success  of  American  mis- 
sionary bodies  in  their  efforts  along  the 
most  varied  lines.  Not  only  have  they  ex- 
erted themselves  in  the  matter  of  Christian 
propaganda,  but  their  men  and  women  who 
were  skilled  in  the  healing  art,  as  well  as  the 
great  number  of  teachers  who  were  not  os- 
tensibly propagandists,  have  done  a  good 
work  that  has  been  appreciated  by  even  the 
Manchu  rulers,  officials,  and  many  manda- 
rins in  all  parts  of  the  country. 

The  recognition  of  the  Republic  of  Chinji 
which   has  been  made  by  our  government 


258     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

was  not  as  prompt  as  it  might  Jiave  been, 
and  yet  the  fact  that  among  the  Great 
Powers  we  were  the  first  to  move  in  this 
matter  has  had  the  most  salutary  effect.  It 
is,  however,  rather  doubtful  if  the  other 
Powers  follow  our  example  very  promptly. 
We  may  be  quite  sure  that  Russia  will  not 
do  so  if  there  is  the  remotest  chance  of  sup- 
porting the  Mongolians  in  their  disposition 
to  cut  themselves  off  from  their  allegiance 
to  the  new  Republic. 

It  is  not  likely  that  Japan  will  be  very 
prompt  in  following  our  example.  Great 
Britain,  France,  Italy,  and  possibly  Aus- 
tria-Hungary may  recognize  the  Republic 
before  long.  Germany,  also,  may  find  it 
advisable  to  do  the  same  thing  and  there 
is  some  indication  of  this  to  be  found  in  the 
way  in  which  the  recent  Chinese  loan  was 
subscribed  for  in  both  London  and  Berlin. 
That  loan  was  opened  for  subscription  on 
May  21,  1913,  at  the  usual  hour  for  begin- 
ning business  in  both  of  those  financial  cen- 
ters. By  eleven  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  the 
loan  had  been  so  heavily  oversubscribed 
that  the  banks  in  both  cities  closed  their 
lists.  In  a  very  short  time  options  for  se- 
curing blocks  of  the  loan  were  selling  at  a 
premium  of  one  per  cent.  In  the  face  of 
this  it  seems  hardly  possible  that  the  gov- 
ernments of  both  those  countries  can  long 


THE  NEW   REPUBLIC  259 

refuse  to  recognize  the  government  of  the 
country  whose  bonds  they  seem  to  appre- 
ciate so  highly. 

The  Chinese  people,  of  course,  have  some 
feeling  about  the  attitude  of  the  United 
States  towards  Mongolians;  that  is  but 
natural,  for  our  Chinese  neighbors  are  hu- 
man beings  and  are  governed  by  the  same 
sort  of  feelings  as  those  which  control  our- 
selves. Yet  it  should  always  be  remem- 
bered that  the  Manchu  government  was  op- 
posed to  their  people  going  away  from 
home,  and  did  not  encourage  the  Pacific 
Coast  coolie  traflSc.  It  was  contended  that 
when  a  Chinese  went  away  from  home,  un- 
less he  secured  official  permission,  most 
readily  granted  when  the  private  trip  was  of 
a  religious  nature,  he  forfeited  certain  of  his 
rights,  and  in  some  cases  this  position  was 
so  strongly  maintained  that  the  expatriates 
were  forbidden  to  return  upon  penalty  of 
death. 

This  view  of  the  matter  was  not  fully 
shared  by  the  people  of  China  generally, 
and  consequently  they  did  not  at  all  like  to 
have  the  gates  of  America  closed  against 
tliem.  Still,  officially,  tlie  right  of  one  na- 
tion to  determine  for  itself  what  shall  be 
done  in  such  matters  has  never  been  dis- 
puted by  competent  Chinese  publicists.  It 
is  probable,  however,  that  there  may  come 


260     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

a  movement  in  China  to  secure  for  the  peo- 
ple of  that  country  something  akin  to  the 
treatment  which  the  United  States  accords 
people  from  other  parts  of  the  world. 

Intelligent  Chinese  visitors  to  our  coun- 
try have  availed  themselves  of  the  oppor- 
tunity to  visit  sections  wherein  the  numbers 
of  people  of  southeastern  Europe  are  so 
great  that  frequently  the  visitor  does  not 
hear  a  word  of  English  spoken.  The 
character  of  many  of  these  settlements,  if 
the  word  may  be  properly  used  in  such  con- 
nection, is  not  one  which  inspires  the  visi- 
tor with  great  respect  for  a  government 
which  discriminates  against  the  orderly, 
intelligent  and  hard-working  Mongolian  in 
favor  of  the  oftentimes  turbulent  and  lazy 
European. 

There  should  be  some  consideration  given 
to  the  fact  that  w^hile  the  United  States  was 
one  of  the  latest  of  the  Western  Powers  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  Chinese,  yet 
the  first  truly  important  mission  which  the 
Chinese  government  sent  abroad  was  under 
the  personal  supervision  of  an  American 
diplomat,  Anson  Burlingame,  who  tried 
earnestly  to  impress  upon  the  people  of 
America,  and  Europe  as  well,  that  the  Chi- 
nese government  and  people  were  entitled 
to  consideration.  There  is  no  disposition 
here  to  overlook  the  fact  that  Burliugame's 


THE   NEW   REPUBLIC  261 

enthusiasm  led  liim  almost  too  far,  yet  had 
his  plea  been  reasonably  successful  it  is 
probable  conditions  would  now  be  some- 
what different  from  what  they  are.  In  the 
important  countries  of  the  world,  there 
seems  to  be  none  of  the  abject  fear  of  the 
Mongolian  which  is  conspicuous  in  parts  of 
the  United  States.  Yet  our  Chinese  neigh- 
bors know  as  well  as  we  do  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  opposition  to  them  in  the  United 
States  comes  from,  or  is  influenced  by,  peo- 
ples who  are  not  themselves  true  Ameri- 
cans. 

The  recognition  of  the  Republic  must,  I 
think,  go  a  little  further  than  the  merely 
perfunctory  act.  The  old  China  was  an 
almost  immovable  body;  it  was  only  by  the 
most  strenuous  effort  that  a  little  of  the 
inertia  was  overcome  here  and  there;  but 
when  it  was  possible  to  persuade  officials 
and  landed  proprietors  to  try  the  experi- 
ment of  building  railways  and  opening  up 
resources  of  various  kinds,  the  profitableness 
of  the  ventures  became  apparent  at  once. 
Such  possibilities  have  scarcely  more  than 
reached  the  experimental  stage  of  exploita- 
tion. If  they  are  to  be  pushed  forward  it 
must  be  as  an  accompaniment  to  tlie  recogni- 
tion of  China's  integrity.  In  this  view  of 
tlie  case,  the  world  has  a  duty  towards  the 
Chinese  l\epul)lic  whicli  must  be  recognized 


262     OUR  neighbors:   the  Chinese 

even  if  that  recognition  means  to  interfere 
on  China's  behalf  with  the  illegitimate 
plans  of  Russia,  Japan,  and  possibly  other 
Powers, 


BIBLIOGEAPHY 

Austin,  H.  H.,  A  scamper  through  the  Far  East, 

1907. 
Ball,  J.  Dyer,  Things  Chinese,  1904. 
Ball,  J.  Dyer,  The  Chinese  at  home,  1911. 
Bard,  E.,  Chinese  life  in  town  and  country,  1905. 
Beach,  H.  P.,  Dawn  on  the  hills  of  T'ang,  1905. 
Beaks,  H.  A.,  China,  1909. 

Blakeslee,  C.  H.,  China  and  the  Far  East,  1910. 
Bland,  J.  0.  P.,  Houseboat  life  in  China,  1909. 
Bland,  J.  0.  P.,  Eecent  events  and  present  policies 

in  China,  1913. 
Bland,  J.  0.  P.,  and  Backhouse,  E.,  China  under 

the  empress  dowager,  1910. 
Brown,   A.   J.,   ISTew   forces   in  old   China,    1904. 
Brown,  A.  J.,  China's  revolutions,  1912. 
Brown,  C.  C,  China  in  legend  and  story,  1907. 
Brown,  C.  C,  The  children  of  China,  1910. 
Browne,   George  W.,  China;  the  country  and  its 

people,  1911. 
Burton,    ]\Iary   E.,    The   education   of   women   in 

China,  1911. 
Burton,    ^la.Tj    E.,    Xotable    women    of    modern 

China,  1912. 
Candler,  Edmund,  Tlie  unveiling  of  Lhasa,  1905. 
Cantlie,  J.,  Sun  Yat  Sen  and  the  awakening  of 

China,  1912. 

263 


264     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

Carl,  Katharine  A.,  With  the  empress  dowager, 
1903. 

Cecil,  William  G.  and  F.  M.,  Changing  China, 
1913. 

Chau  Ju-kua,  Chinese  and  Arabian  trade,  1913. 

China  centenary  missionary  conference,  Shanghai, 
1907. 

Colquhoun,  A.  E.,  China  in  transformation,  1912. 

Conger,  S.,  Old  China  and  young  America,  1913. 

Cranmer-Byng,  Lancelot  Alfred,  tr.,  A  lute  of 
jade,  being  selections  from  the  classical  poets 
of  China,  1909. 

Crosby,  0.  T.,  Tibet  and  Turkestan;  a  journey 
through  old  lands  and  a  study  of  new  condi- 
tions, 1905. 

Curtin,  J.,  The  Mongols,  1908. 

Curtin,  J.,  Journey  in  Southern  Siberia,  1909. 

Curtis,  William  Elvery,  Turkestan,  "the  heart  of 
Asia,"  1911. 

Deasy,  Henry  H.  P.,  In  Tibet  and  Chinese  Turk- 
estan, 1901. 

Denby,  Charles,  China  and  her  people,  1906. 

Dingle,  E.  J.,  Across  China  on  foot,  1911. 

Dingle,  E.  J.,  China's  revolution,  1911-1912,  1912. 

Elias,  F.,  The  Far  East:  China,  Korea,  and 
Japan,  1911. 

Ferguson,  W.  N.,  Adventure,  sport,  and  travel  on 
the  Tibetan  steppes,  1911. 

Geil,  William  E.,  The  great  wall  of  China,  1909. 

Geil,  William  E.,  The  eighteen  capitals  of  China, 
1911. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  265 

Gerrare,  "W.,  Greater  Eussia  [Manchuria],  1904. 
Giles,  Herbert  A.,  The  religions  of  ancient  China. 
Giles,  Herbert  A.,  China  and  the  Chinese,  1902. 
Giles,  Herbert  A.,  The  civilization  of  China,  1911. 
Giles,  Herbert  A.,  China  and  the  Manchus,  1912. 
Goodrich,  J.  K.,  The  coming  China,  1911. 
Gowen,  H.  H.,  Outline  history  of  China,  1913. 
Grew,  J.  C,  Sport  and  travel  in  the  Far  East, 

1910. 
Groot,  J.  J.  M.  de.  The  religion  of  the  Chinese, 

1910. 
Gulick,   Sidney  L.,   The  white  peril   in  the   Far 

East,  1905. 
Headland,     Isaac     T.,     Chinese     Mother     Goose 

Ehymes,  1900. 
Headland,  Isaac  T.,  Chinese  boys  and  girls,  1901. 
Headland,    Isaac    T.,    Our   little    Chinese   cousin, 

1903. 
Headland,  Isaac  T.,  Court  life  in  China,  1909. 
Headland,  Isaac  T.,  China's  new  day,  1912. 
Hedin,  Sven  A.,  Through  Asia,  1899. 
Hcdin,  Sven  A.,  Central  Asia  and  Tibet,  1903. 
Hedin,  Sven  A.,  Trans-Himalaya,  1909. 
Hedley,  J.,  Tramps  in  dark  Mongolia,  1910. 
Hirth,  F.,  Ancient  history  of  China,  1908. 
Holcoml)o,    Chester,    The    real    Chinese    question, 

1900. 
Holcombo,   Clicstcr,   The  real   China,   1909. 
Holdieh,  Tliomas  H.,  Tibet,  the  mysterious,  1909. 
Hooker,  ^r..  Behind  the  scenes  in  Peking,  1911. 
Jack,  E.  L.,  The  back  blocks  of  Cliina,  190-1:. 
Jack,  K.  L.,  The  great  wall  of  China,  1911. 


266     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

Jernigan,  Thomas  R.,  China  in  law  and  com- 
merce, 1905. 

Johnston,  R.  F.,  The  lion  and  dragon  in  northern 
China,  1910. 

Kemp,  E.  G-.,  The  face  of  Manchuria,  Korea,  and 
Russian  Turkestan,  1911. 

Kendall,  E.  K.,  A  wayfarer  in  China,  1913. 

Kent,  P.  H,,  The  passing  of  the  Manchus,  1912. 

Knox,  George  W.,  The  spirit  of  the  Orient,  1906. 

Koo,  V.  K.  W.,  Status  of  aliens  in  China,  1912. 

Lanfer,  B.,  Jade:  a  study  in  Chinese  archaeology 
and  religion,  1912. 

Landon,  Percival,  The  opening  of  Tibet,  1905. 

Landor,  A.  H.  S.,  In  the  forbidden  land  [Tibet], 
1903. 

Landor,  A.  H.  S.,  An  explorer's  adventures  in 
Tibet,  1910. 

Lawton,  L.  F.,  Empires  of  the  Far  East,  2v.,  1912. 

Lesdain,  J.,  From  Pekin  to  Sikkim  through  the 
Ordos,  the  Gobi  desert,  and  Tibet,  1908. 

Lewis,  R.  E.,  The  educational  conquest  of  the 
Far  East,  1903. 

Liddell,  T.  H.,  China :  its  monuments  and  mys- 
tery, 1910. 

Little,  A.  J.,  The  Far  East,  1905. 

Little,  A.  J.,  Gleanings  from  fifty  years  in  China, 
1911. 

McCormick,  F.,  The  Flowery  Republic,  1913. 

Macgowan,  John,  Sidelights  on  Chinese  life, 
1905. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  267 

Macgowan,  John,  Men  and  manners  of  northern 
China,  1913. 

McKenzie,  Frederick  A.,  The  unveiled  East,  1907. 

Martin,  William  A.  P.,  A  cycle  of  Cathay,  1896. 

Martin,  William  A.  P.,  The  "lore  of  Cathay,  1901. 

Martin,  William  A.  P.,  The  awakening  of  China, 
1907. 

Martin,  William  A.  P.,  Lore  of  Cathay,  or,  the 
intellect  of  China,  1912. 

Morris,  C,  Historical  tales:  the  romance  of  real- 
ity, 1898. 

Morse,  Edward  S.,  Glimpses  of  China  and  Chinese 
homes,  1902. 

Moule,  A.  E.,  j\ry  half  century  in  China,  1911. 

Norman,  Henry,  Peoples  and  politics  of  the  Ear 
East,  1895. 

Ollone,  H.  M.  G.,  In  forbidden  China,  1912. 

Osgood,  E,  A.,  Breaking  down  of  Chinese  walls, 
1908. 

Parker,  Edward  H.,  Ancient  China  simplified, 
1908. 

Parker,  Edward  H.,  John  Chinaman  and  a  few 
others,  1909. 

Parker,  Edward  H.,  Studies  in  Chinese  religion, 
1910. 

Pitman,  N.  H.,  Chinese  playmates;  or,  the  boy 
gleaners,  1902. 

Pott,  F.  L.  H.,  A  sketch  of  Chinese  history,  1904. 

Pumpelly,  Eaphael,  Explorations  in  Tibet,  1905. 

Rockliill,  William  W.,  Inquiry  into  the  popula- 
tion of  China,  1904. 

Eoe,  Edward  A.,  China  as  I  saw  it,  1910. 


268     OUR  neighbors:    the  Chinese 

Eoss,  Edward  A.,  The  changing  Chinese,  1911. 

Eoss,  John,  The  original  religion  of  China,  1909. 

Sergeant,  P.  W.,  The  great  empress  dowager  of 
China,  1911. 

Sherring,  Charles  A.,  Western  Turkestan  and  the 
British  borderland,  1906. 

Smith,  Arthur  Henderson,  Chinese  characteristics, 
1894. 

Smith,  Arthur  Henderson,  Village  life  in  China; 
a  study  in  sociology,  1899. 

Stein,  M.  M.,  Ancient  Khotan,  1907. 

Stein,  M.  M.,  Euins  of  ancient  Cathay,  2v.,  1912. 

Stretton,  C.  E.,  Picturesque  China ;  or,  the  flowery 
kingdom,  1910. 

Thomson,  John  S.,  The  Chinese,  1909. 

Townley,  S.  M.,  My  Chinese  notebook,  1904. 

Tsu,  T.  T.,  The  spirit  of  Chinese  philanthropy, 
1912. 

Underwood,  H.  G.,  Eeligion  of  eastern  Asia,  1910. 

Vay  de  Vaza,  A.,  Empires  and  emperors  of  Eus- 
sia,  China,  Korea,  and  Japan,  1911. 

Waddel,  Laurence  Austine,  Lhasa  and  its  neigh- 
bors, 1905. 

Weale,    B.    L.    Putnam    [B.    L.    Simpson],    The 
truce  in  the  East  and  its  aftermath,  1907. 

Weale,   B.   L.    Putnam    [B.   L.   Simpson],   Man- 
chu  and  Muscovite,  1909. 

Weale,  B.   L.   Putnam   [B.  L.   Simpson],   Indis- 
creet letters  from  Peking,  [1907]  1911. 

Weeks,  C.  W.,  The  story  of  China  plate,  1912. 
.  White,  Mrs.  T.  C,  Princess  Der  Ling,  Two  years 
in  the  forbidden  city,  1911. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  269 

Wildman,    Eounsovelle,     China's    open    door;    a 

sketch  of  Chinese  life  and  history,  1900. 
Williams,  I.  B.,  By  the  great  wall,  1909. 
Wilson,    Andrew,    "  The    ever    victorious    army " 

["Chinese"    Gordon's    Taeping    campaign], 

1868. 
Wood,  J.  N".  P.,  Travel  and  sport  in  Turkestan, 

1910. 
Wu  Tinff-fanff,  The  awakening  of  China,  1908. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Aborigines,  13  Barbers,  97. 

Access   to    Chinese    homes,  Beauty  of  Chinese  women, 

70,  152. 

Advanced   Chinese   women,  Beef    and    mutton     liked, 

105.  247. 

Agriculture   in   China,   25,  Betrothal,  75. 


94. 
American   classification   of 

Chinese,   23. 
Ammianus    -    Marcellinus, 

historian,    195. 
Ancestor   worship,   73 


"Book   of   Changes,"   56. 

"Book  of  Odes,"  55. 

Boys,  in  imperial  palace, 
207;  of  Manchu  fam- 
ilies,   216;    otliers,    217. 

Boys'  games,  111. 


Ancestral  line,  importance.  Brent,  Bishop,  257. 

73.  Bride,  lonely  home  life,  80. 

Ang  mau  kui,  "red-haired  Burlingame,   A.,  200. 

devils,"   151. 


Animal  flesh  as  medicine, 
etc.,  245. 

Appeal  of  Chinese  Govern- 
ment to  Christian  peo- 
ples,  61. 

Archery,  214. 

Arches,   memorial,   234. 

Areas  of  China,  22. 

Astrologers  and  doctors, 
Chinese,  in  southwest- 
ern   Asia,   201. 

Athletics,  110;  modern, 
217. 

Babylonians,   6. 
Ball,  J.  Dyer,  223. 
Bank-notes,  early   Chinese, 

89,  90. 
Banquet,  farewell,   252. 
Baptism  now  popular,  217. 


273 


Calendar  trees,  52. 

"Capping  verses,"  110. 

Carpino,  Friar  John  de 
Piano,  87. 

Carriage  driving,   106. 

Carriages,  231. 

Catching  fish,  249. 

Catenary  curve  of  roofs, 
12. 

"Cathay,"  derivation  of 
name,  198;  now  a  poeti- 
cal term,   199. 

Ceremony  at  graves,  104. 

Ceres  [Seres],  land  of, 
88. 

Character  of  former  edu- 
cation,  62. 

Chi  Hwangti,  destruction 
of  books,  47,  48;  his 
superstition,  129. 


274 


INDEX 


China,  areas,  22;  as  a 
united  State,  16;  deriva- 
tion of  name,  47 ;  early 
knowledge  of,  194;  na- 
tural features,  24;  popu- 
lation, 23. 

"China's  Sorrow,"  Hoang- 
ho,  27. 

Chinese,  a  yellow  people, 
149;  civil  engineers,  69; 
confusion  of,  141;  demo- 
cratic, 171;  education, 
24 ;  fastidious  about 
food,  248;  feeling  about 
American  exclusion  of 
Mongolians,  259;  feeling 
towards  Americans,  254; 
girls  and  women  as  pub- 
lic speakers,  230;  his- 
tory, 7;  industrious,  87, 
90;  knowledge  of  Roman 
Empire,  197;  oblique 
eyes,  a  fiction,  140;  pas- 
toral and  agricultural 
people,  12;  sanitary  eat- 
ers, 246;  settlement  in 
Shensi,  12;  visitors  to 
U.  S.  criticize  discrim- 
ination, 260;  who  are 
they?  2. 

Chinese  flag,  20. 

Chinese  gourmets,   146. 

Chou  dynasty,  14. 

Christian  Chinese  formerly 
debarred  from  Civil  Ser- 
vice, 60. 

Chun  g-Kwoh,  "Middle 
Kingdom,"  9. 

Civil  engineers,  Chinese, 
69. 

Classes,  society,  45,  53. 

Classics,  commentaries  on, 
57. 

Clever  military  trick,  50. 

Coffin-makers,   100. 


Commercial        intercourse, 

205. 
Comprehensive     education, 

recent,  68. 
Confucius,  53,  128. 
Conservatism     of     Chinese 

farmers,  251. 
Consideration    for    women, 

106. 
Cormorants,   fishing,   250. 
Creation  myths,  30,  31. 
Cricket-fights,   109. 
Cruelty  of  courtiers,  128. 
Curtin,  J.,  155. 

Deforestation  of  China, 
28. 

Der   Ling,   Princess,    139. 

Desai-chan,  father-in-law 
of  Genghis  Khan,  159. 

Destruction  of  the  Clas- 
sics, 46. 

Diff'erence,  facial,  Chinese 
and  Caucasians,   151. 

Diiference  between  peoples 
of  China,   141. 

Digni^ty  of  commercial 
men,   115. 

Dissipation  at  Court,   127. 

Distinction  between  liter- 
ati and  others,   114. 

Dogs,  cats,  and  rats,  as 
food,  244. 

Dominican  missionaries, 
200. 

Doolittle,  J.,  "Social  Life 
of  the  Chinese,"  59. 

Draft  animals,   232. 

Dwellings,   82. 

Dzungaria,    189. 

Earth,   mvth   of   evolution, 

33. 
Education,  now  consistent, 

67;    specialized,   24. 


INDEX 


275 


Effect  of  recent  wars,  67. 

Empress  Dowager,  the 
great,    139,   208. 

Engineers,  Chinese,  on  Ti- 
gris  River,   200. 

Essays,    66. 

Europeans'  acquisition  of 
Chinese  territory,  255. 

Evolution  of  man,  theo- 
ries, 2. 

Falconry,  215. 

Fan  kwei,  "foreign  devils," 
151. 

Farmers,   conservative,   25. 

Fishermen,  95. 

Five  units  of  Chinese  Re- 
public,  21. 

Flag,  Chinese,  20,  21. 

Folk-lore,   57. 

Food  in  the  interior,  241. 

Foot  battledore  and  shut- 
tlecock,   110. 

"Forcing  the  City  Gates," 
game  like  Prisoners' 
Base,   112. 

Foreign   athletics,    113. 

Former  education  of  chil- 
dren,   59. 

Franciscan  missionaries, 
200. 

Fuh-hi,  first  of  "The  Five 
Emperors,"    36. 

Fung-shui,  30. 

Gastronomies,   147. 

Genghis  Khan,  156;  in- 
vasion of  China,  162; 
legends    about,    157. 

Giles,  H.  A.,  on  "Story  of 
the  Three  Kingdoms," 
51. 

Girls,  Confucian  neglect 
of  their  education,  226; 
dress,      226 ;      generally, 


221;  improvement  in 
their  education,  226 ;  in 
imperial  palace,  220; 
life  not  usually  hard, 
225;  their  advance,  227, 
228. 

Go-between,    marriage,    74. 

Gobineau,  Count,  on  races 
of  man,  3. 

Gordon,    "Chinese,"    187. 

Gossiping,   105. 

"Grab  game"  of  land, 
254. 

Graves,   103. 

Guilds,    116. 

GutzlafT,    Charles,    65. 

Hair-dressing,    144. 

Hair,  growth,    159. 

Han    dynasty,    132. 

Headland,  I.  T.,  139;  chil- 
dren's games.  111. 

Headlev,    John,    181. 

Hedin,^Sven,  167,  192. 

Himalaya  Mountains,   168. 

Hoang-ho,  Yellow  River, 
"China's  Sorrow,"  27. 

Home-life,    83. 

Honesty  of  Chinese  mer- 
chants, 96. 

"Honored   Ones,"   7. 

Hotels,  240. 

Houseboat  life,  250. 

Houses,   243. 

Hue,  Abb6,  experience  with 
Cliinese   surgeon,    89. 

Hwang-ti,  his  benefac- 
tions, 39. 

Ice  harvesting,  251. 
Ideographs,       explanation, 

13. 
Imitation,    Chinese    adept, 

97. 
Infanticide,  222. 


276 


INDEX 


Influence       of       dissolute 

women,    131. 
Insignia  of  literati,  122. 
Internal   waterways,   8. 
Islamism   introduced,    183. 

Jumping   to   a    conclusion, 
195. 


Kao  Ti's  ruse,  132. 
Korpue,        fortune-telling, 

124. 
Keramic   art,   possibilities, 

92. 
Kite-flying,  109. 
Klaproth,   J.,    130. 
Koran,     objection     to     its 

translation,  184. 
Kwang  Hsii,  late  emperor, 

139. 


Lakes,  28. 

Language,  differences,   142. 

Lassen,  C,  G«rman  Orient- 
alist,  195. 

Later  intercourse,  Chinese 
and  Europeans,  203,  214. 

Literati,  obstructionists, 
49. 

Literature,  45. 

Lost  art,  keramic,  may  be 
recovered,    93. 

Low   classes,    120. 

Mahometan  mosques  in 
China,    181. 

Mahometan  rebellions  in 
China,  185,  et  seq. 

Mahometans  in  China, 
180;  friendly  to  Euro- 
peans, 181;  their  indus- 
tries,  100-193. 

Malthusianism,  221. 


Mamelukes,   156. 

Manchu  Government  op- 
posed to  foreigners,  204. 

Manchu  monopoly  of  of- 
fices, 138. 

Manchuria,  123. 

Manchurians,  165. 

Man's  pleasures,  110. 

"Man-wheel,"  boys'  game, 
113. 

Markets,   96. 

Marriage,  72 ;  go-between, 
74;  imperial  princesses 
and  strangers,  224. 

Married  life,  81. 

"Matching   rhymes,"    110. 

Maternal  instinct,   112. 

Men  of  T'ang,   10. 

Merchant  class,  position 
higher  than  in  Japan, 
114. 

Migrations,  8. 

"Milky   Way,"   legend,   42. 

Ming   dynasty,    138. 

Modern  examination  papers, 
66. 

Mongol,  definition,  154 ; 
etymology  of  word,  156; 
incursions,   156. 

Mongol  army,   163. 

Mongolia,    23,    164. 

Mongols  and  Manchus  dif- 
ferent from  Cliinesc, 
166. 

Monopoly  of  oflSces  by 
Manchus,  138. 

Moon   legend,   41. 

Mosques  in  Chinese  Re- 
public, 184. 

":Mother,"  the  deity,  59. 

Mukden's   tombs,    165. 

Myths  about  heavenly 
bodies,  40. 

Xative  entertainment,  148. 


INDEX 


277 


Natural  features  of  Cliina, 
24. 

Nature,   principals   of,   32. 

Needles,  connection  with 
marriage,    78. 

Neglect  of  girls'  educa- 
tion, G5. 

Negligee  at  home,  85. 

New  Year's  festivities, 
218. 

Occupations,  differences  in, 

144. 
Open-air    barbers,    99. 
Opium   trade,    25G. 
"Outside    Barbarians,"    10. 

Pariali  class,  none,   119. 

"Pastor    Princes,"    9. 

"Peking   Gazette,"    143. 

Physicians,  foreign,  their 
importance,   71. 

Physical  appearance  of  the 
Chinese,  144,  148. 

Physical  conditions,  carlv, 
52. 

Pictorial  art,  decline  of, 
90. 

Playmates  for  an  imperial 
prince,   21C. 

Pleasures  for  an  imperial 
prince,  few,  214. 

Polo,  the  family,  3,  89, 
137;  made  China  known, 
200. 

Polo,  !Marco,  his  narrative, 
201,  224. 

Political   parties,    121. 

Polyandry,  repulsive  fea- 
tures, 173. 

Polygamy  and  concubi- 
nage,   79. 

Population  of  China.  22. 

Portuguese  in   China,   202. 


Position  of  married  wom- 
an, not  affected  by 
former  life,   117. 

Poultry   plentiful,   248. 

Poverty  of  the  Chinese, 
220. 

"Prayer-wheel,"  175. 

Prince,  an  imperial;  his 
training,  239  ct  seq.; 
few  pleasures,  214;  play- 
mates, 216. 

Privacy,  lack  of  in  home, 
85. 

Privileged  classes,  offi- 
cials,  122. 

Provincial   governors,    10. 

Ptolemy  on  the  country  of 
Scrice,   19G. 

Public  schools,  02. 

Pwanku,  32. 


Races  of  mankind,  3. 
Railways,   240. 
Recognition      of       Chinese 

Republic.  257,  2G1. 
"Red   Cords"   at  marriage, 

legend  of,  77. 
Reforms,    early    proposals, 

18. 
Reinaud,     J.     F.,     French 

Orientalist,    195. 
Religious   belief   now   free, 

Gl. 
Republican    form    of    gov- 
ernment in  China,   17. 
Rice,  cooking  of,   145. 
Ricold     of     Monte     Croce, 

Friar,  200. 
River  craft.  236. 
River  valleys,  2G. 
Rivers  of  eastern  Asia,  27. 
Roads,    231. 

Roof>.  catenary  curve,   12. 
Rubruquis,  Friar,  87. 


278 


INDEX 


Samshu,  liquor,   109. 
School,  an  old-time,  63. 
Scope  of  former  education, 

64. 
Scrolls  in  mosques,   185. 
Sea-food,   249. 
Secret  societies,   121. 
Sedan-cliairs,    100,   238. 
"Selecting  Fruit,"  a  game, 

108. 
Semi-foreign        residences, 

85. 
Seres,  China,   194,   196. 
Sexes    do    not    mingle    in 

society,  121. 
Shaving    the    boy's    head, 

211. 
Shensi        settlement        by 

Chinese,  12. 
"Showing     the      Fist,"     a 

game   like  mora,   113. 
Silk     culture,     its     begin- 
ning, 40. 
Small  feet,  118. 
Socialism  in  China,  18. 
Social      lines      in      China, 

116. 
Sons  of  Han,  10,   11. 
Soothsayers     and     similar 

classes,   123. 
Spirit-rapping,   125. 
Splendor  in  palace,   129. 
Sports,  for  boys,   111;   for 

girls,  107. 
Stage,   the,   not   reputable, 

229. 
Stein,' M.  A.,  192. 
Stories      about      betrothal 

and  marriage,  76. 
Sui-jin,    a    mythical     per- 
sonage,  35. 
Sung  emperors,  patrons  of 

arts   and    letters,    136. 
Sun   Yat-sen,   68. 
Sz-ma  Ts'ien,  historian,  14. 


Temujin,  Genghis  Khan, 
career,    16. 

Terrien  de  Lacouperie, 
theory  about  Chinese,  5, 
9. 

Theatrical  performances, 
117. 

"The  Faithful  Gander," 
folk-lore    tale,    53. 

Theories  of  human  evolu- 
tion, 3,  5. 

"Three  Kingdoms,"  Story 
of  the,  49. 

"Three  mythical  person- 
ages," the,  34. 

Tibet,  167,  168;  "fields," 
170;    traveling    in,    175. 

Tibetan,  dwellings,  174; 
false  claim  to  pure 
Buddhism,  176;  monas- 
teries, 175;  poverty,  171; 
religions,  175-177;  wom- 
en, 173, 

Tibetans,  marriage  cus- 
toms, polyandry,  170- 
172;  Mongoloid  family, 
168. 

Time,    how    measured,    52. 

"Tip-cat,"   a   game,    112. 

Toy-making,   96. 

Training  of  boys,  216. 

Traitors,  the  three  great- 
est, 133. 

"Treating,"  not  common, 
109. 

Trigrams,  kwa,  37. 

Troublesome    citizens,    1. 

Ts'ao  Ts'ao,  traitor,   135. 

Tnng    Cliao,   traitor,    134. 

Turkestan,   Chinese    188. 

Vehicles  231. 

Visit  to  family  tombs,  102. 

Wang  An-shih,  socialist, 
18. 


INDEX 


279 


Wang  Mang,  traitor,   133. 
Wang,    a   Mahometan,   liia 

duplicity,  182. 
Water  traveling  preferred, 

235. 
Wedding,  75. 
Wheelbarrow,  233. 
Williams,     S.     W.,     "The 

Middle  Kingdom,"  59. 
Writing,   invention   of,   39. 
Written  language,  53. 
Woman's  pleasures,  101. 


Worshiping  at  tombs,  103. 

Yang,  a  principle  of  Na- 
ture,  32. 

Yellow  race,  age,  dignity, 
origin,  4. 

Yu,  a  principle  of  Nature, 
32. 

Yu-chau,  famous  mytho- 
logical character,  35. 

Yule,  H.,  on  early  defini- 
tion of  "China,"  197. 


7^/ 


THE  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


STACK  COLLECTION 

THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


/ 


S'TmS  00186  4287 


^J 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACI 


A  A      000143  432    3 


